The other epidemic (2022)

Disclaimer:

This report is based on our own perspective. It may not mirror the experiences in other practices.

Covid - the pandemic that was

On 23 March 2020, the Prime Minister instructed the country to begin its first national lockdown. Two weeks before, the WHO had declared the outbreak as a pandemic.

23 months later, on 24 February 2022, the government lifted all remaining restrictions in England. This was the start to the "Living with Covid" plan.

Living with Covid-19

Earlier, the Secretary of State for Health had alluded to the Covid situation as "transition from pandemic to endemic." (Evening Standard, 20 January 2022)

Yet, all is not well with the nation...

The hidden epidemics

As the Prime Minister announced the first lockdown, he emphasized that there was a danger that "more people are likely to die, not just from Coronavirus but from other illnesses as well."

Since the pandemic began, we have indeed seen some of these other illnesses were undiagnosed or undertreated, often because people were not comfortable with going to hospitals and GP surgeries for blood tests or just to have a check up.

So now is the time for everyone to catch up.

Diabetes and Pre-diabetes

The number of people who have Diabetes has been growing not only in the UK, but also worldwide.

The WHO reported that from 108 million in 1980, it has risen to 422 million in 2014.

One writer described it as "the silent epidemic" (World Economic Forum, 14 December 2000).

The International Diabetes Federation calculated that, 4.2 million people died of diabetes or its complications in one year alone (2019).

You can compare this with 5.29 million deaths from Covid over the two years since the pandemic began.

At Alexandra Surgery:

Prevalence - diabetes

What is Pre-diabetes?

(also known as Impaired Fasting Glycaemia, or Non-Diabetic Hyper-glycaemia)

Diabetes is defined by numbers - if the blood sugar is high enough then doctors diagnose diabetes.

However, there is a stage when blood sugar is a little higher than average, but not quite high enough to be labelled as diabetes. We call this Prediabetes.

HbA1c meaning

Prediabetes is also becoming more common, very quickly.

At Alexandra Surgery:

Prevalence - Prediabetes

To put these figures into perspective,

Number of adults registered at A.S. = 4,773

Number of adults with diabetes = 433 that is, 1 in 11 adults

Number of adults with pre-diabetes = 416 almost the same number as diabetes

So what's the big deal? Pre-diabetes means I haven't got diabetes, right?

No you haven't - yet. But you are highly likely to go on to having it. Unless you do something to stop it in its tracks.

In the last 2 months, 22 people at Alexandra Surgery had developed new diabetes.

Diabetes isn't just about sugar levels.

It is a metabolic disorder that affects processes all over your body, and patients can end up with:

Heart attack / Stroke
Kidney failure and dialysis
Blindness
Foot ulcers, gangrene and amputation
Nerve numbness and loss of control of bowels or bladder
Impotence (men)
Frequent bladder and vaginal infections (women)

What can I do if I have Prediabetes?

There is no drug treatment. However, lifestyle changes can make a huge difference.

We can refer you to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. You can read about it here:

NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme

Hypertension

High blood pressure, otherwise known as Hypertension, has also been described as a "Global Epidemic". (Journal of Hypertension, April 2021)

! UNDER CONSTRUCTION !

Coronary Heart Disease

This was labelled an "epidemic from the 20th century" in the American Journal of Medicine (September 2014)