Are you at Risk?

ARE YOU at Risk of getting Diabetes?

Diabetes (especially the type 2 variety) can develop really slowly and you might not know that you have it. But it is important that you know if you have diabetes. The earlier that diabetes is detected the better. Earlier treatment means you o better.

The risk of diabetes increases:

  • As we get older (more than 10% of people over 65 years of age have diabetes).
  • If there is someone else in your family with diabetes (that is your mum, dad, brother or sister)
  • If you are overweight and inactive.
  • If you have had diabetes during a pregnancy.
  • If you have high blood pressure.
  • If you have high cholesterol levels
  • If you have had a heart attack or a stroke
  • If you are Asian or Afro-Caribbean.

If you want to know how high your risk of developing diabetes is then go to www.qdscore.org. Here you can answer some questions and enter some simple facts about yourself and a computer program uses all this information to calculate your risk of developing diabetes over the next 10 years.

If you are at risk of getting diabetes – don’t panic. For many who are at risk there is good news. Diabetes can be prevented if you act early.

The Diabetes Prevention Program was a large study in the USA which looked at over 3,000 people who were at high risk of developing diabetes. This research showed quite clearly that by following a careful diet and exercise programme that it was possible to delay the arrival of diabetes or even prevent it altogether. Only a very modest weight loss was needed to see real benefit and the benefit was quite amazing – a 58% reduction in the risk of getting diabetes. Well worth putting in a bit of effort now if you are at risk.

So if you are at risk of getting diabetes here is what you need to do to reduce the chances of getting diabetes:

  • Maintain an active lifestyle. Walk more. Take the stairs and not the lift.
  • Take regular exercise if you can.
  • Reduce your intake of calories and fat
  • Check what your ideal body weight should be and aim to reach it.
  • Avoid smoking
  • Get your cholesterol and blood pressure checked

If you think you are at risk of diabetes discuss this with your GP or Practice Nurse. They might suggest that you have a blood sugar test to check you out for diabetes. Also if you are at high risk they may suggest a further test is done every year – again to check for diabetes.