July 19 - Alarming rise in diabetes; New numbers prompt urgent call for action

Brockville Recorder and Times
By Nick Gardiner

An "alarming" provincial report showing a sharp increase in diabetes among adults in southeastern Ontario is a call for government action, says the fundraising chairman of the area's Diabetes Association branch.
Darlean Coulter said she is concerned about a report from the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Studies that shows the incidence of diabetes in this region has grown 72 per cent over the past 10 years among people 20 and over. "It is quite alarming and with our aging population it's a wake−up call to the Ministry of Health to look at this and move forward with some preventive and educational (reforms)," Coulter said during a telephone interview with The Recorder and Times Wednesday.
She said more attention needs to be focused on prevention and assisting people to pay for the medications and equipment required to prevent the disease from becoming worse and leading to complications. Moreover, schools should be brought into the mix to raise awareness about obesity, overeating and a lack of exercise as causes of diabetes and other health problems.
"The government really has to focus. It goes right to the heart of the education system."
Coulter said the province has taken some small steps to increase physical activity in the schools and to provide educational material about the connection of a sedentary lifestyle and diabetes.
But there needs to be more emphasis on the problem in the schools, she said.
"From the school system, children bring that into the home." She said parents also have to take responsibility for educating their children about the dangers of an unhealthy lifestyle.
"It's up to the whole of the society to realize this, but that kind of change is difficult."
The South East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) based in Belleville has done an assessment of the report's data and its findings are dire.
A report from the LHIN indicates the population of over−20 adults has grown by eight per cent from 338,745 to 367,128 people between 1996 and 2006.
Meanwhile, the incidence of diabetes has raced far ahead of that pace with a 72 per cent growth from 17,663 to 30,300 people receiving treatment for the disease during the same period.
In addition, 15 out of 100 women and 19 out of 100 men over 65 in the region had diabetes in 2004.
The LHIN report also notes the death rate of people with diabetes has been decreasing steadily in the province, but the regional death rate is higher than average. However, the report states emphatically that it cannot conclude diabetes is the main cause of death in all cases.
Dorothyanne Brown, director of primary care at the North Kingston Community Health Centre, said the discouraging figures could contain a nugget of good news.
Brown, who is working with other community health centres in the region to develop a long−range plan for providing diabetes services, said there is a growing awareness of diabetes among health−care professionals and within the general population. That translates into more people being diagnosed than ever before and living longer with the condition because they receive proper treatment.
Brown said she found the increasing prevalence of the disease surprising, but it could be "good news because it means we're keeping more people with a fairly serious chronic disease alive longer."
She said it's important to enhance preventive measures and provide proper care to help reduce complications and help people maintain a good quality of life.
She agreed the numbers are alarming in the region, which stretches from Bancroft in the north and Trenton in the south to the Grenville−Dundas County border.
However, the region also has a higher concentration of older people than elsewhere in the province that is likely reflected in the numbers.
Brown said meetings between community health centres and health providers such as the Smiths Falls−based Rideau Valley Diabetes Services are being held to determine the best ways to deal with the growing prevalence of the disease without overlapping services. The Rideau Valley Diabetes Services is the main program provider for all of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville.
Director Helen McGuire is away until next week and wasn't available for comment.
South East LHIN chief executive officer Paul Huras said the provincial report highlights the need for the diabetes service providers to work together to address the needs of the population.
Huras, who is on vacation and wasn't available for comment Wednesday, said in a statement from the LHIN that some of the increase could reflect the growth of health−care professionals testing their patients for diabetes in the past 10 years. He also cited the aging population and the higher incidence of obesity and poverty in the region as potential factors in the growing prevalence of the disease.
Huras also noted the rate of new diabetes cases has levelled off in recent years and is actually below the rate of new cases being experienced elsewhere in the province.