Links For more statistics on diabetes, consult: National Diabetes Surveillance System Canadian Health Network Diabetes in Canada: National Statistics and Opportunities for Improved Surveillance, Prevention and Control.

Facts & Figures

Diabetes is a chronic condition that impedes the production and/or proper use of insulin, a hormone vital to normal metabolism. Diabetes can result in severe complications, including limb amputation, blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke and premature death.

Here are some facts and figures about diabetes in Canada:

• over two and a quarter million Canadians are estimated to have diabetes
• about a third of adults with diabetes are unaware that they have the condition
• diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Canada
• 40% of Canadians with diabetes develop long-term complications
• diabetes and its complications account for 25,000 person years of life lost before age 75
• more than 60,000 new cases of diabetes come to light every year
• physical inactivity and unhealthy eating, leading to obesity, play a major role in the onset and progression of type 2 diabetes
• the two population groups at highest risk of diabetes are:
  

	seniors -- 10% of Canadians aged 65+ have the disease, compared to 3% of those aged 35 to 64
	Aboriginal people -- type 2 diabetes rates are 3 to 5 times higher in Aboriginal communities than in the general population

• diabetes is controllable
• 90% of all cases in Canada are of type 2, and 10% of cases are of type 1
• type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by modifying two known risk factors -- obesity and physical inactivity
• there is presently no known means of preventing type 1 diabetes
• health care costs for diabetes and its complications amount to about $9 billion a year
• the human toll includes reduced life expectancy, increased stress on individuals/families, increases in work and school absences and, when complications develop, career disruption and personal hardship
• if present trends continue, type 2 diabetes will increase in Canada due to the aging of our population and rising obesity rates

References

Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Group. "The effect of intensive insulin treatment on the development and progression of long-term complications in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus." New England Journal of Medicine, 1993; 329:977?86

Diabetes in Canada: National Statistics and Opportunities for Improved Surveillance, Prevention and Control/Le diabète au Canada: Statistiques nationales et possibilites d'accroitre la surveillance, la prevention et la lutte. Public Health Agency of Canada / Agence de santé publique du Canada, 1999 (Cat. No. H49-121/1999)

Meltzer, S. et al. 1998 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Diabetes in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal, Oct 20, 1998; 159 (8 suppl)

Merck Manual, seventeenth edition, ed. Beers M.H., and Berkow R. Merck Research Laboratories, 1999

National Diabetes Fact Sheet. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 1998

Thompson, David M. et al. "Insulin adjustment by a diabetes nurse educator improves glucose control in insulin-requiring diabetic patients: a randomized trial." Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol.161?8, October 19, 1999.

Turcotte, P. "Diabetic Retinopathy Screening and Management". Canadian Journal of Continuing Medical Education, June 2000

United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study Group. UKPDS 33. "Intensive blood/glucose control with sulphonylureas or insulin compared with conventional treatment and risk of complications in patients with type 2 diabetes." Lancet 1998; 352:837-53