MANILA, Philippines — Seven out of 10 Filipinos living with diabetes have not received any treatment, making it one of the top causes of deaths in the country for years, according to an analysis of global data for the past three decades.
The new study, published in The Lancet Journal, was the first global analysis of trends in both diabetes rates and treatment.
It was conducted by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration—a network of health scientists that provides rigorous and timely data on risk factors for noncommunicable diseases for 200 countries—in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
More than half of 828 million people worldwide living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes have also not received any treatment. That total as of 2022 is four times the numbers in 1990.
With 8.6 million Filipinos diagnosed with diabetes in 2022, the Philippines ranked 94th out of 200 countries and the sixth highest in Southeast Asia.
A total of 42,314 deaths due to diabetes was recorded, or 6.3 percent of all deaths in 2022, making it the fourth leading cause of death among Filipinos.
In terms of treatment, the Philippines is among the bottom countries, placing 135th out of 200 nations.
Based on the study, the countries with the lowest rates of diabetes in 2022 were in western Europe, including France, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland and Iceland, as well as Japan in Asia.
Countries with the highest rates, with 25 percent or more of the population having diabetes, included those in the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Pacific island nations.
Since 1990, several countries, including many in central and western Europe, Latin America and East Asia and the Pacific, as well as Canada and South Korea, have seen vast improvements in treatment rates, resulting in more than 55 percent of diabetics receiving treatment in 2022.
Senior author Professor Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London noted the widening global inequalities in diabetes treatment.
“This is especially concerning as people with diabetes tend to be younger in low-income countries and, in the absence of effective treatment, are at risk of life-long complications—including amputation, heart disease, kidney damage or vision loss—or in some cases, premature death,” he said.