The prevalence of diabetes has doubled in 20 years in Quebec

This content is produced by Laval University.

The good news first: the rate of new diabetes cases detected annually among all Quebec residents decreased between 2001 and 2019. Now the bad news: The total number of people with diabetes has doubled over that same period, and the situation is particularly alarming among teens.

These mixed notes are taken fromstudy Published in the magazine Diabetes epidemiology and management It was carried out by a team composed of researchers from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Laval and the Research Center of the University Institute of Cardiology and Lung Diseases of the University of Quebec Laval.

This team used data collected in the Quebec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System to calculate the incidence (number of new cases per 1,000 population) and prevalence (cumulative number of cases compared to the total population) of diabetes between 2001 and 2019.

“The data in this file do not make it possible to distinguish between cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Our analyzes therefore cover all cases of diabetes. In 90% to 95% of cases diagnosed in adults, diabetes is type 1.” The second,” defines the head of the study, Claudia Bliss, specialist scientific advisor at INSPQ and associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Laval.

The researchers found that between 2001 and 2019, the number of new diabetes cases per 1,000 population decreased by 30%. However, these new cases have swelled the ranks of people who already have diabetes. In 2001, 4.3% of Quebec's population had diabetes. In 2019, this percentage reached 8.1%, or 675 thousand people.

The picture is alarming in the under-20 group: the prevalence of diabetes is low, but increasing. In absolute numbers, the number of young people with diabetes increased from 2,450 to 3,265 between 2001 and 2019. The increase reached 29% among the age group 5-11 years, 48% among the age group 12-15 years, and 54% among the age group 16-19 years. . “The data do not make it possible to determine the factors responsible for this increase, but we can believe that lifestyle habits are responsible. We must continue to closely monitor the developments of the situation among young people.

“Even if people over 50 are mainly affected, prevention should also target young people because healthy lifestyle habits are acquired from childhood.”

— Claudia Blaise

Although knowledge about diabetes and its treatment has improved over the past two decades, this disease is still extremely devastating to health. “Our analyzes show that in 2019, adults with diabetes were three times more likely to develop the disease and two times more likely to die than people without diabetes,” Professor Bliss confirms. These findings are a reminder of the importance of diabetes prevention and education programs for people with diabetes. Even if those mainly affected are people over 50 years of age, prevention should also target young people because healthy lifestyle habits are acquired from childhood.

Signatories to the study published in Diabetes epidemiology and management They are Sarah O'Connor, Philippe Robert, Jacinth Leclerc, Paul Poirier, Marjoleine Dube, Pierre-Luc Trepanier, Linda Perron and Claudia Blaise.