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Type 1 diabetes Primer:
- Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.
- Type 1 diabetes strikes children and adults suddenly, leaving them dependent on injected or pumped insulin for life, and carries the constant threat of devastating complications. While the causes of this process are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved.
- Living with type 1 diabetes means living a very structured lifestyle in order to adequately regulate blood sugar and avoid complications.
- Type 1 diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, stroke, heart disease, nerve damage and amputation.
- Warning signs and symptoms include: extreme thirst, frequent urination, drowsiness or lethargy, increased appetite, sudden weight loss for no reason, sudden vision changes, sugar in urine, fruity odour on breath, heavy or laboured breathing, stupor or unconsciousness. These symptoms may occur suddenly.
- Living with type 1 diabetes requires approximately 1,460 needles a year (based on four injections per day) and 2,190 finger pokes a year to test blood sugar levels.
- The World Health Organization indicates five to ten per cent of a nation’s health budget is spent on diabetes.
- Diabetes and its complications cost the Canadian economy more than $17.4 billion a year.
- Diabetes currently affects 246 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 380 million by 2025.
- More than 3 million Canadians have some form of diabetes.
- Over 300,000 Canadians live with type 1 diabetes.
- Canada has the sixth highest incidence rate of type 1 diabetes in children 14 years or younger in the world.
- The incidence rate of type 1 diabetes is rising by three to five per cent in Canada; the greatest rise occurs in five to nine year olds.
- Worldwide 70,000 children develop type 1 diabetes annually (almost 200 children a day).
- Globally, every ten seconds two people develop diabetes.
- Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of global death by disease.
- Globally, every ten seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes.
- According to the International Diabetes Federation, each year 3.8 million deaths are attributable to diabetes. An even greater number die from cardiovascular disease made worse by diabetes-related lipid disorders and hypertension.
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