‘Obese, sedentary’ Irish population worst for diabetes

Ireland has the worst standard of diabetes care in western Europe, according to a new international comparison.

The Euro Diabetes Index 2014 ranks Ireland twentieth out of 30 countries, ahead only of countries in eastern and southern Europe.

Despite shadowing the UK in many health indices, in this survey Ireland is "far behind" our British neighbour, according to index director Dr Beatriz Cebolla.

“Ireland has major public health problem, with an obese and sedentary population,” she says. Diabetes care here suffers from a “harmful paradox”: there is good deployment of modern devices for patient disease management, such as test strips for insulin measurement, continuous blood-sugar monitoring and patient education.

At the same time, Dr Cebolla says, there is no reliable data “whatsoever” from monitoring of diabetes complications, such as blood-sugar, eye, foot and renal conditions.

“Why on earth do you deliver excellent services but refrain from keeping a record of the outcomes,” she asks, describing Ireland as a “sad exception” in northwestern Europe. The Irish approach is “a blueprint for inefficient diabetes care”.

The index makes a number of recommendations for improving diabetes care in Ireland:

“ Start monitoring and publishing data about diabetes care procedures such as blood-sugar levels and foot, eye and renal complications

“ Improve public health by addressing obesity, nutrition and physical exercise in schools

“ Upgrade the Irish diabetes registry to register and publish data on care procedures

“ Subsidise special footwear to improve access.

More than 32 million people in Europe have been diagnosed with diabetes, with many more undiagnosed. The index estimates the cost of treatment last year at €100-150 billion and says this is set to rise further.

It says management of the disease in most countries is weak. Diabetes is still a major cause for kidney failure, blindness, foot and leg amputation and heart disease.

However, diabetes care is making slow progress, according to the findings of the index launched today at an international medical congress in Vienna. Since 2006, a combination of healthier lifestyles, better patient education, better trained doctors and improve access to treatment and device has reduced the number of deaths in Europe from diabetes by 10,000 a year.

Sweden comes out top of the index, followed by the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK and Switzerland.