Healthy living
Body matters
New online tool calculates diabetes risk
Saga launches health calculator to help people aged over 50 assess their risk of developing type 2 diabetes
Despite being the UK's second biggest preventable cause of premature death, a survey of around 16,000 people by Saga revealed that over half were unaware that age is a risk factor, a third were unable to recognise symptoms such as fatigue and increased thirst and a quarter mistakenly believe that weight gain is a symptom
Type 2 diabetes, if left unmanaged, could lead to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and circulation problems in the legs which may lead to amputation.
So Saga has teamed up with the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM), internationally acclaimed experts in diabetes to develop a simple to use online diabetes diagnostic tool. The health calculator is designed to give an indication of your state of health and risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and suggest some simple steps individuals can take to prevent type 2 diabetes.
Professor David Matthews from OCDEM said: “Diabetes remains largely hidden because many people do not recognise the early warning signs and are not aware that there are simple steps that will minimise their risk.”
Other findings from the survey revealed that women had better general awareness of symptoms. More than half the female respondents correctly identified an increased need to urinate as a symptom (65% of women compared to 44% of men) and twice as many women identified hard to heal skin infections (38% of women compared to 19% of men).
Overall eight percent of the over 50s questioned said that they suffered from Type 2 diabetes, although this varied according to age - rising from five percent of those aged 50-54, to one in ten of those over 60. Nevertheless, this is likely to be a significant underestimate given the widespread ignorance about warning signs of the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Saga Chief Executive Andrew Goodsell said: “The online tool has been developed specifically for people aged over 50, an age group that is particularly vulnerable to diabetes. By filling in a few details it is possible to generate an immediate health check and tips on making lifestyle improvements that will help many people live healthier lives.”
Additional results showed that if diagnosed with diabetes, 93% would seek treatment from their GP. GPs cannot prescribe a miracle cure for Type 2 diabetes, instead a combination of healthy diet and exercise will help reduce the risk of developing diabetes.
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