How dangerous is the disease that People's Artist Anh Tu has suffered from for many years?

People's Artist Anh Tu - Director of the Vietnam Drama Theater had suffered from diabetes for many years, but by mid-2018 it had become severe and complicated. On December 20, People's Artist Anh Tu breathed his last due to complications from type 2 diabetes.

The disease that People's Artist Anh Tu suffers from seems common but is considered a silent killer because of the dangerous complications it can cause to the patient.

MSc. Dr. Nguyen Huy Cuong, Director of Endocrinology Clinic 133 Thai Ha, Hanoi, said that in Vietnam, doctors can only diagnose about 50% of people with diabetes.

The cause of this condition is because there are mild forms of diabetes, blood sugar is still normal when hungry but blood sugar is high after eating, that is also a type of diabetes.

“About 20% of cases are missed even though the patient may go for regular check-ups. The standard for diagnosing diabetes has 3 indicators: fasting blood sugar, blood sugar after any meal, and HbA1C. If all 3 indicators are tested, the patient will be diagnosed earlier. If only fasting blood sugar is considered the “gold standard”, the diagnosis will be delayed. In addition, some people do not regularly go for blood tests and the disease is not detected in time,” said Master, Doctor Nguyen Huy Cuong.

The rate of diabetes in large cities is about 5% of the population (in adults). The disease can appear 10-20 years before being diagnosed. In particular, diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and leg occlusion by 2-4 times.

Patients are also susceptible to cancer due to a reduced immune system in the body. Approximately 30-40% of people with diabetes die from cancer.

In addition, diabetes also causes other complications to the eyes, causing vision loss and blindness; kidney failure, reducing quality of life and increasing the risk of death; nerve damage, numbness, amputation, etc.

Regarding mortality, Dr. Cuong said that the disease shortens life by an average of 6-10 years. Moreover, the number of people with this disease is getting younger. About 30 years ago, when he first graduated, Dr. Cuong mainly received and treated patients over 65 years old, but today, many patients are just over 20 years old and have not started a family yet but have diabetes.

Prof. Dr. Thai Hong Quang, President of the Vietnam Endocrinology and Diabetes Association, said that type 2 diabetes is increasing among young people. The reason for the increase in diabetes rates is not only due to genetic factors but also depends on a diet high in starch, foods with lots of chemicals, and constant alcohol consumption; a sedentary lifestyle, stress, and noise...

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), there are currently over 415 million people worldwide with diabetes, and this number is expected to increase to 642 million by 2040.

Accordingly, 1 in 11 adults will have diabetes and each year more than 5 million people die, equivalent to 1 person dying every 6 seconds from this disease. The burden of diabetes is 20-40 times higher than other infectious diseases.

In Vietnam, about 3.5 million people have diabetes, 10 times more than 10 years ago and this number is expected to increase to 6.1 million by 2040. In 10 years, the rate of pre-diabetes also increased from 7.7% to 14%.

Diabetes is the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. In 2017 alone, 29,000 people died from diabetes-related causes, equivalent to 80 deaths per day./.