As Our Parents Age

Lots of people may want to work at improving their diabetes risk factors if an article from TimeHealthland.com is any indication. 

The Health and Medical Resources blog excerpts the Time article and also features some extraordinary graphic visualizations (the prevalence of cases in various countries) from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Atlas sixth edition. Diabetes has increased across the globe, and it’s no longer just a worry for aging adults. A PDF  with fact sheets containing all sorts of other diabetes statistics —  information by country and continent — is available from IDF.          

I wonder what a graph of prevalence by country using percentages of population would look like? We’ve looked around at various international health organizations but not found such a graphic. Has anyone ever seen a graphic of this sort? Yes! Check out the comment and graph in the comment from reference librarian, Janice Flaliff, who blogs at Health and Medical News and Resources and monitors more than a dozen health and medical news sources.

To learn more about the different types of diabetes, read the Mayo Clinic blog post, Types of Diabetes: What’s the Difference?

Aging is less of a risk factor than it used to be and individuals who have years to go before becoming seniors are now developing the condition. Everyone needs to be aware of potentially preventive behaviors—improving diet, losing weight, avoiding smoking, and exercising. While changing these behaviors does not guarantee that a person will avoid the disease, they are strongly associated with diabetes prevention and improved health.