UK diabetes diagnosis rates lag behind other high-income countries

The UK lags behind other high-income countries when it comes to the diagnosis of diabetes, a new study reveals.

Just under three-quarters (74.2 per cent) of people with the disease are estimated to have been diagnosed in the UK, compared with an average of 79.5 per cent for all developed nations.

Among western European countries, only Switzerland and France had lower diagnosis rates than the UK.

Researchers highlight out how complications linked to diabetes ‘can be averted with timely and appropriate diagnosis’.

It is one of the leading causes of preventable sight loss in people of working age in the UK and is a major cause of lower limb amputation, kidney failure and stroke.

In Canada, 86 per cent of cases have been diagnosed, while diagnosis rates in the US stand at 82.8 per cent, according to the study, which compared detection and treatment rates of diabetes around the world.

Researchers, led by academics at the University of Washington in Seattle, in the US, estimated that in 2023, 77.5 per cent of patients aged 15 and over in western European countries had received a diagnosis.

Globally, 55.8 per cent of people living with diabetes were diagnosed, with 91.4 per cent of people with diagnosed diabetes receiving treatment and 41.6 per cent of people receiving treatment in control of their blood sugar levels – also known as glycaemic control.

The data revealed that 88.5 per cent of those diagnosed in the UK were receiving treatment.

And just over a third (36.2 per cent) of these were reported to be in control of their blood sugar levels.

The study did not differentiate between diabetes type.

‘We find major gaps in diagnosing, treating, and managing diabetes globally, with substantial variation between countries,’ the authors of the report wrote in the journal Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

‘Despite improvements over the past two decades, underdiagnosis and suboptimal glycaemic management of diabetes remain major challenges globally, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries.

‘These findings highlight the urgent need for enhanced strategies and capacity building to improve the detection, treatment, and management of diabetes worldwide.’

Around 4.6million people in the UK are living with diabetes. Nine in ten of those have type 2, and it has previously been estimated a further 1.3million people may be undiagnosed.

Nikki Joule, policy manager at Diabetes UK, said: ‘Despite improvements over the last 20 years, underdiagnosis of type 2 diabetes remains a major challenge in the UK, particularly in young people.

‘Because symptoms can be subtle and slow to develop, type 2 diabetes can remain hidden for years.

‘Without a timely diagnosis, dangerously high blood sugar levels go untreated, increasing the risk of serious and life-threatening complications.

‘With one in five adults now living with diabetes or prediabetes in the UK, this research shows there is still a long way to go in improving the diagnosis and treatment of this serious condition.’

Diabetes is a condition where there is too much glucose in the blood because the body cannot use it properly.

People with type 1 diabetes, accounting for around 8 per cent of cases, cannot produce insulin and it is not known exactly what causes it.

Those with type 2 do not produce enough insulin or the insulin they produce does not work properly.

Around 90 per cent of people with diabetes have type 2 and it is often linked to poor lifestyles.

The medicine’s watchdog last month announced fat jabs could be offered to patients in the early stages of type 2 diabetes in the the biggest treatment shake-up for a decade.

Weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, which are usually reserved for the later stages of the condition, would be given to patients more quickly under draft guidance.

The recommendations, from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), also include scrapping the one-size fits-all approach of starting everyone on the same medication in favour of more personalised care.

This could prevent complications such as heart failure and heart attacks, NICE claims.