Highs and lows of diabetic care: lessons from a national audit

摘要

There are approximately 3.5 million people living in the UK who have been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes—in England and Wales, approximately 26500 of these are children and young people under 18 years of age, with > 95% suffering from type 1 diabetes. These individuals carry a lifetime risk of serious long-term complications such as cardiovascular disease and increased risk of strokes and/or heart disease, blindness (retinopathy), kidney disease (nephropathy), peripheral vascular disease and neuropathy with increased risk of limb amputations. Current research demonstrates that for a child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the expected loss of life expectancy is 10-12 years.1 This risk can be substantially reduced with good diabetes care and careful blood glucose control, thereby reducing the burden of cost to the patient, family and the National Health Service (NHS).