Young diabetics increase in Sabah, Labuan
KOTA KINABALU: The number of people diagnosed with diabetes in Sabah and Labuan has almost doubled between 2006 and 2011, with an increasing number of young diabetic patients under the age of 30.
Dr Lee Wai Khew, head of Luyang Health Clinic and Family Medicine Specialist consultant, said the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2011 showed that diabetes was affecting nine percent of the population in Sabah and Labuan in 2011, which is almost twice as much compared to 4.9 per cent of the population in 2006.
On the national level, she said the percentage of population diagnosed with diabetes had also gone up from 14.9 percent in 2006 to 20.8 percent in 2011. She said this was a worrying trend as the number of diabetes patients in Sabah and Labuan had doubled within five years.
Dr Lee said this during a press conference yesterday on World Diabetes Day jointly organized by Diabetes Malaysia Sabah branch and Luyang Health Clinic.
Themed ‘Act Today to Change Tomorrow’, the event will be held at the concourse event hall of Oceanus Waterfront Mall on November 14, from 10am to 3pm. It will be officiated by Kota Kinabalu health officer Dr Jiloris Julian Frederik Dony at 11am.
Dr Lee said the main reason for the growing number of diabetes patients is because of their poor diet because as people become more affluent, they have more access to food.
In addition, she said urbanization meant that people have to work and with the prevalent traffic jams, they would not have time to prepare food. Hence, they would opt for restaurants serving fast food to satisfy their appetite before returning to work. The problem is that the quality of food available to them is not good.
She said the World Diabetes Day is not merely to encourage individuals to eat healthier food, but hopefully to evoke the government to push eateries to provide healthier, quality food.
“It is not just about the amount of food or taste, the food must be healthy as well,” she stressed.
While the average diabetes patients were over 40, Dr Lee expressed worry over the growing trend of young diabetes patients, as many under 30 years old have been diagnosed with diabetes.
“Now we are seeing lifestyle induced diabetes caused by the lack of exercise and not very good food. It is a lifestyle disease ... not being active and poor diet, which are the main reasons for young diabetes patients.”
While the majority of diabetes patients do not show symptoms, some of them may exhibit symptoms such as feeling thirsty and tired all the time, losing weight and passing urine frequently.
People who are obese, with a family history of diabetes among first degree relatives such as parents and siblings are at risk of getting diabetes. The disease also affects some women during their pregnancy.
Therefore, Dr Lee said early screening is important to detect and prevent diabetes. In fact, she said people who show high sugar level and high risk of getting diabetes, the pre-diabetes stage, as she called it, could be reversed.
“Some studies have shown that just by diet and exercise alone, we can reverse 50 percent of the people with high risk (of diabetes) back to normal.”
In other words, she said genetic factors is a small predisposing factor in getting diabetes.
“With good lifestyle and proper management, we can prevent 50 percent (risk) of getting diabetes. For those that cannot be prevented (from getting diabetes), we can delay the onset to maybe 10 years later. Hopefully, the complications will not set in till their ripe old age,”she said.
Dr Lee added diabetes was not likely to be reversed for people diagnosed with the disease, but with proper control, these patients could live a normal, healthy and long life.
Meanwhile, Diabetes Malaysia Sabah branch chairman Dr Tay Eong Beok said the World Diabetes Day was an opportunity to create awareness about the disease, its effects, prevention of the disease and how to look after oneself upon being diagnosed as a diabetic. Dr Tay, 75, who retired as the deputy director-general of Malaysian Cocoa Board 20 years ago, said he was a diabetic for 30 years and has lived like any other ordinary people.
“Diabetes is not the end of the world,” he assured.
He said there would be dietary consultations, health screening, body fat analysis, posters exhibition, Oceanus cash vouchers to be given our for quizzes, foot examination as well as a forum on diet management and diabetes complications during the World Diabetes Day.
Izzah Ismail, a dietician from the Luyang Health Clinic, will also be presenting a forum on ‘Diabetes and Diet’ at 11.30am.
Also present at the press conference were family medicine specialist from Luyang Health Clinic, Dr Chin Ying Woei, physiotherapist Sabrina Mukri and occupational therapist Wong Oi Nei.