KARACHI, April 18: Experts from home and abroad who spoke at the third and final day of a health conference on Sunday were of the view that education could act as a tool in prevention of the primary form of diabetes.
The event, entitled 5th Diabetes in Asia Conference, was held by the Diabetic Association of Pakistan and the International Diabetes Federation. According to Dr Khalid Al Rubeean of Saudi Arabia, education was more effective in the long run than medicine. Certain studies had shown that through changes in the lifestyle, a 58 per cent reduction could be brought about in the prevalence of diabetes.
In his speech Dr Mahen Wijesuriya of Sri Lanka expanded on his concept of prevention from "cradle to grave". In his talk entitled "Aetology of type 2 disease: Is stress the common pathway?", he focussed on stress as a major risk factor in diabetes and cardio-vascular complications.
Stress as a factor became important early on in life, he said. If the mother was malnourished, the baby in the womb would also be affected. Dr Akhtar Hussein of Norway spoke at length of the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the rural and urban populations in Bangladesh. His studies were likely to pave the way for more integrated research on the subject in the developing countries, he said.
There was a wide difference in the prevalence rates between the rural and urban populations, pointed out Dr Hussein. This view was also expressed by Prof Morsi Arab of Egypt.
The professor, talking of the socio-economic burden of diabetes, stated that the difference in prevalence between the rural and urban populations highlighted the need for a major lifestyle change.
Prof G.C. Viberti of the Guys Hospital, London, gave a brief overview of the latest British data which indicate that the glycaemic control of most patients deteriorated over time. Insulin sensitizers which targeted the cause of type 2 diabetes should form the basis of treatment management.
Dr Rehman Khan of the United Kingdom spoke of the Polycistic Ovary Syndrome and diabetes. He said the syndrome was a common cause of infertility which affected between five and 10 per cent of the women in their reproductive age.
The syndrome was associated with insulin resistance, which was the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes. He was of the opinion that the treatment should focus on weight loss and the use of insulin sensitizing agents such as metformin and glitazones.
Other speakers included Mrs Gojka Roglic of the World Health Organization, Switzerland. A special symposium on diabetes and kidney disease was addressed by Prof Viberti. He talked of prevention of the kidney disease, which is a potentially lethal complication of diabetes.
