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Growing population could mean higher rates of diabetes, expert says

Category: Diabetes

As the population continues to increase, one expert is predicting even more people will receive HbA1c tests indicating they have diabetes. The warning comes at a time when diabetes rates are already at record highs.

This past October, it was estimated that the world population surpassed 7 billion. This prompted experts from various fields to contemplate the repercussions of crossing this threshold. Siri Tellier, a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen said that it will likely mean that more people will soon start developing diabetes.

The reasons for this are twofold. First as population grows, more people will begin living in urban areas. This has already started taking place, as demographic data recently showed that more people now live in cities than in rural settings for the first time. The problem is that rate of diabetes are much higher in urban areas.

Second, more people are expected to live in poverty as the population increases. This is one of the most important risk factors for diabetes.

As a product of this situation, Tellier said that individuals born today are more likely to die from non-communicable diseases like diabetes or heart disease than infectious diseases for the first time in history.