Like many French people with type 2 diabetes, Didier didn’t see it coming. It was after a routine blood test, which revealed an abnormally high level of blood sugar (blood sugar concentration), that he was diagnosed. Before that, no symptoms had alerted him.
“I didn’t have any pain. It’s something quite sneaky, we don’t realize it,” this retiree told BFMTV on Tuesday, November 14, on World Diabetes Day.
20 to 30% of affected adults are not diagnosed
If type 1 diabetes is often detected in childhood, type 2 develops silently, usually in people over 40 years of age. “From the appearance of the first hyperglycemia to the diagnosis, an average of 5 to 10 years passes,” estimates the Diabetic Federation.
“Given the silent nature of the disease, it is estimated that between 20 and 30% of diabetic adults are not diagnosed,” indicates Inserm.
Type 2 diabetes, which represents 90% of diabetes in France, is most often caused by an excessively sedentary lifestyle and poor diet. It can also be explained by a family factor.
To assess your risk, the Diabetes Federation website offers a test based on eight simple questions. How old are you? Do you practice physical activity? Does anyone in your family have diabetes? Each answer earns a certain amount of points.
“If your score is greater than 20 points, you have a 35% chance of being diabetic,” announces Jean-François Thébaut, vice president of the Diabetic Federation.
Serious complications
Although type 2 diabetes can occur without symptoms, there is a risk of causing serious complications: atherosclerosis (clogged arteries) and therefore heart problems, retinopathy (diseases of the retina), kidney failure, etc.
Therefore, it is essential to get tested. For this, a simple blood test is enough. According to the Diabetic Federation, “diabetes is proven when the fasting blood sugar level is equal to or greater than 1.26 g/l on two occasions or equal to or greater than 2 g/l at any time of the day.”
In France in 2020, more than 3.5 million people were treated with diabetes medications, or 5.3% of the population.
Source: BFM TV
