Diabetes eats way through SA

29 August 2016 - 09:27 By DAVE CHAMBERS
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File photo.
File photo.
Image: Gallo Images/iStockphoto

A major study intended to evaluate a diagnostic technique for diabetes has warned that the number of diabetics in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to double to 34.2million in the next 25 years.

Researchers who conducted the Durban Diabetics Study say two-thirds of South Africa's diabetics were undiagnosed "and therefore more at risk of developing harmful and costly complications. [They are] the highest proportion of any region in the world".

The study, involving academics from the universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Oxford and Cambridge, examined almost 1200 black people.

The 13% prevalence of diabetes in the study was more than triple the international estimate for sub-Saharan Africa but in line with a recent study among urban blacks in Cape Town.

"Our study highlights the dramatic increase in the prevalence of diabetes in the past 30 years and confirms that the diabetes epidemic is well established in urban South African populations," the researchers said, adding that prevalence was far higher in women.

The study looks at the success of the three different diagnostic methods within the sub-Saharan medical context.

Researchers tested the usefulness of the so-called HbA1c diagnostic test against the two other glucose tests currently in use.

Unlike the two other tests for diabetes, HbA1c does not require overnight fasting or immediate laboratory handling - something potentially beneficial for use in rural areas, where there is no electricity or laboratory services.

The researchers were surprised to find that HbA1c's sensitivity at detecting the disease was "markedly higher" than in an analysis of 98 previous studies in 38 countries.

"This might be a result of true physiological differences in red blood cell turnover and glucose regulation between populations," the researchers said.

Sports scientist Professor Tim Noakes has been a proponent of the test for some time and said the HbA1c test was able to predict average glucose levels over the last three months.

Noakes, who is known for the low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet he advocates, believes the HbA1c test was "the single most important preventative measure" in the war on diabetes because it provides an early warning.

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