Ireland is ‘sleepwalking' its way into a epidemic of diabetes and this is threatening ‘to bankrupt our healthcare system within a generation', a GP has claimed.

According to Dr Ray O'Connor, a Limerick-based GP, the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide, including in Ireland.

The most recent figures from the Institute of Public Health show that at least one in 10 people here over the age of 55 have the disease, while over 40,000 adults aged 45 and older have undiagnosed diabetes.

This is largely due to the rise in obesity rates. Dr O'Connor noted that 90% of the 285 million cases of diabetes worldwide are ‘directly related to obesity.' As a result, the term ‘diabesity' has been coined to show the link between the two.

He pointed out that a woman with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more - which is considered obese - for 16 years or more has a 20-fold increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while a man has a 10-fold increased risk.

These rising obesity rates are caused by eating too many calories, eating too many of the wrong types of foods and not exercising enough/at all.

"Thus we are sleeping our way as a society into an epidemic of diabetes. This is threatening to bankrupt our healthcare systems within a generation, as increasing numbers of patients are managed with increasing numbers of increasingly expensive drugs," Dr O'Connor explained.

He insisted that a ‘bold approach' is now needed to deal with this issue, ‘instead of just sitting and watching the inevitable increase in obesity, which is leading to the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes'.

He said that for those already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, there needs to be much more focus on lifestyle measures - diet and exercise - as these may halt and even reverse the progress of the disease.

He also emphasised that lifestyle measures do not cost any money and do not produce any unpleasant side-effects that some drugs can, such as nausea.

However, Dr O'Connor also emphasised the importance of preventing obesity from occurring in the first place. He made a number of suggestions on how to do this, including:
-Ensuring that neighbourhoods have good ‘walkability', e.g. that residential developments take place near shops, schools, churches and places of entertainment such as cinemas. Adequate policing is also needed to ensure the safety of these areas
-The introduction of a fat tax to make high fat foods more expensive
-Providing better education to children on the benefits of a good diet, especially children from lower socioeconomic groups

"At present, we seem to be giving far more attention to the treatment of the obesity and diabetes epidemic rather than the prevention of it through public health measures," Dr O'Connor added.

He made his comments in the Irish journal, Diabetes Professional.