Use of diabetes drugs rises 40 per cent in five years: official data
A healthy diet
Here is a scaring article published by Telegraph.co.uk. Guys, if you are overweight, do not wait until you have a diagnosis of diabetes type 2 because nothing can replace prevention. Diabetes can have serious complications and if you can, why not cover yourself by being physically active and eating healthy meals? Here is the article.
Prescriptions for drugs to treat diabetes have increased 40 per cent in five years as the obesity epidemic and improved diagnosis increases the number of people on the medicines.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Published: 3:13PM BST 30 Jul 2010
Telegraph.co.uk
Last year there were 35.5m prescriptions written for drugs to treat diabetes, costing around £650m, official figures have shown.
This is a rise of more than 40 per cent since 2004/5.
Experts said this is due to both an increase in prevalence of diabetes as obesity – which is linked to the type 2 form of the disease – continues to rise.
The number of people suffering from type 1 diabetes, which is not linked to weight or lifestyle, is also increasing yearly.
GPs have been given incentives to identify people with diabetes and treat them, increasing the proportion of people with the condition who have been diagnosed and are receiving treatment.
The development of new treatments has also contributed the increase in both volume of drugs prescribed and cost, experts said.
Diabetes now accounts for almost one in 13 prescriptions written by GPs in England, compared with one in 20 five years ago.
Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre, said: “This report provides an insight into both national and local prescribing patterns for what is an increasingly prevalent condition in England.
“It shows that both the total prescription items being dispensed to treat diabetes have increased markedly and the total net ingredient cost to the NHS of those items has increased by almost £200 million since 2004/5.”
Simon O’Neill, Director of Care, Information and Advocacy at Diabetes UK, said: “This large rise in cost of diabetes drug prescriptions and costs appears to be equally due to the far greater population of people with diabetes and to the wider prescribing of newer and more expensive therapies.
“Diabetes UK believes that people with diabetes should have access to the most appropriate treatment to manage their condition. For those for whom older therapies are effective, they should be allowed continued access to those but where people with diabetes are unable to manage their diabetes effectively, a wider range of treatment options are required.”
Doctors who are rude to colleagues could put patient safety at risk because the stressful atmosphere created distracts staff, a medical defence union has warned.
Following a report in the British Medical Journal showing rudeness is a distraction, the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, is reminding doctors that their overriding duty is the care of their patients.
Article brought to you by Emilia Klapp,RD,BS
www.TheDiabetesClub.com
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