Young Hongkongers with prediabetes have 88 per cent risk of suffering from diabetes in lifetime, study finds
- Rate higher than some other countries, authors of study say, possibly due to genetic factors such as poorer insulin-release abilities
- Diabetes is 10th most common cause of death in the city, while 700,000 people live with the condition
Young Hong Kong people with a higher-than-normal blood sugar level at 20 years old have a nearly 90 per cent risk of suffering from diabetes in their lifetime, according to a Chinese University study that reviewed data of 2.6 million of the city’s residents.
Researchers also found 66 per cent of the city’s young, healthy people with a normal blood sugar level had a risk of developing diabetes – a rate higher than countries with a predominantly white population.
Authors of the study said the findings gave “added impetus to policymakers and healthcare stakeholders to develop and implement strategies aiming to prevent progression of diabetes in our region”.
The study reviewed data of 2.6 million Hongkongers, with or without prediabetes, collected from 2001 to 2019. Prediabetes is a condition where the blood glucose level was abnormally high but not high enough to be considered as diabetes. Globally, 300 million people have this condition, but there is not an accurate estimate of the figure in Hong Kong.
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For people living with prediabetes from as early as 20 years old, the expected risk of developing diabetes in later life was estimated to be 88 per cent. For those without prediabetes, the risk was 65.9 per cent. The figures were estimated through a simulation based on the data set.
“The extremely high expected lifetime risk of diabetes in Chinese people is alarming, especially in those with prediabetes,” the study said.
Professor Andrea Luk On-yan, who led the study, said: “Young people born in recent years appeared to be more affected than those born in earlier years, directly reflecting the adverse health effects of nutritional transition and a sedentary lifestyle.”
She added that people with childhood obesity, high-calorie diets, family history of diabetes or who did less physical activity were more likely to develop prediabetes at a younger age.
But the risk of developing diabetes among Hongkongers, even for the healthy ones, is higher when compared with people in some other countries. A study done in the Netherlands, based on more than 10,000 people, found the risk rate was 74 per cent for those with prediabetes and 31 per cent for those without.
Researchers of the local study said such a difference could be due to genetic factors among East Asians, who were more likely to have poorer insulin-release abilities, according to past studies.
Previously, little was known about the lifetime risks of diabetes among East Asians.
Using the same data, researchers also identified that prediabetes was associated with a higher risk of being diagnosed with major chronic diseases – a relationship which was stronger in younger people. For example, the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases was 67 per cent for people aged 20 to 39 with prediabetes, compared with 3 per cent for those aged 80 or older.
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The findings had earlier been published in medical journals PLOS Medicine and the Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific.
Researchers called for strategies to prevent the progress of diabetes among Hongkongers.
“Encourage diabetes screening in at-risk individuals, because in most people, diabetes is clinically silent,” Luk said. “This can be achieved through … making screening as widely accessible as possible.”
She also added that restaurants should consider adding nutritional content to menus so people could know how many calories they were consuming with each meal.
On a day-to-day basis, people should also be encouraged to move more by getting off the bus or train one stop earlier, and taking the stairs instead of lifts, she said.
Diabetes is a major public health concern in Hong Kong where about 700,000 people have the condition. It is also the 10th most common cause of death in the city.
Under the Primary Healthcare Blueprint, which was unveiled last month, the government said it was planning to launch a scheme which aimed to cover half the medical bill for residents visiting private doctors for diabetes or hypertension.
