Malaysia and Diabetes: Facts and Figures

Globally, around 463 million people live with diabetes. In 2016, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes.

In conjunction with World Diabetes Day, here are some important facts and figures about diabetes.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic disease whereby an abnormally high level of sugar (glucose) is present in the blood. This is caused when the body produces little or insufficient insulin.

Diabetes can lead to many other diseases and complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.

Types of Diabetes

There are three main type of diabetes:

Type 1 Diabetes: Occurs when a body produces very little or no insulin, most frequently in children and young adults.

Type 2 Diabetes: Most common diabetes cases occurring mainly in adults. It happens when a body does not make good use of the insulin that it produces.

Gestational diabetes (GDM): Occurs when a woman has high blood glucose during pregnancy that may cause complications to both mother and child. It usually disappears after pregnancy, but both women and children are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Symptoms of Diabetes

Symptoms of diabetes include:

• Extreme fatigue
• excessive thirst
• frequent urination
• unexplained weight loss
• constant hunger
• blurred vision
• Cuts and wounds that are slow to heal
• numbness or burning sensations in hands/feet

Diabetes statistics in Malaysia

• National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019 revealed that 1 in 5 adults in Malaysia have diabetes, that’s roughly 3.9 million of people aged 18 years and above.

• 49 per cent of people with diabetes had never been examined or diagnosed with the chronic disease.

• Based on the National Diabetes Registry Report 2013-2019, only 32.4 per cent of patients who sought care in MOH primary care clinics in 2019 achieved an optimal level of diabetes control.

• Out of 1,614,363 patients enrolled in the registry, 42.9% men and 57.1% women. Their ethnic distribution is as follows: Malay 59.15%, Chinese 19.62%, Indians 13.17%, and others at 8.05%.

Preventing Diabetes

Addressing Malaysians for World Diabetes Day, Health Director General Dr Noor Hisham advised preventing and controlling diabetes through healthy lifestyle practices such as having a balanced diet, an active lifestyle, not smoking, cultivating a healthy mind and by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption.

Regular health screenings to know individuals’ Body Mass Index (BMI) status, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol level would also help in preventing and detecting the disease.

Dr Noor Hisham added that diabetes not only has a negative impact on the quality of life and health care costs but also increases the economic burden of individuals, families and communities, thus affecting national productivity.