Doha: Due to high prevalence of diabetes and obesity, Qatar has implemented a universal screening approach for all pregnancies.
“Gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, affects about 23 percent of all pregnant women in Qatar; this translates into 6,000-6,500 cases each year,” said Director, Qatar Metabolic Institute, Chief Quality Officer and Deputy CMO, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Prof. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra.
“All pregnant women in Qatar are screened for diabetes. The screening has become embedded in the routine practice of Primary Care Health Center and Hamad Medical Corporation in a highly coordinated pathway. Thus all women with gestational diabetes are discovered and guided to treatment,” he told The Peninsula.
Diabetes affects 17% of adults living in Qatar, this includes both Qatari and long term residents; the number is around 150,000 patients in Qatar. Most of these patients, about 140,000, have type 2 diabetes and only about 10,000 have type 1 diabetes. Pre-diabetes affects about 20% of all adults.
“Obesity is the main risk factor responsible for the high levels of type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and gestational diabetes in Qatar,” said Prof. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra.
He emphasised the fact that healthy lifestyle is key in the prevention and management of diabetes and is superior to medication.
“International studies in several countries across the globe showed weight reduction (by about 7%) and exercise (30 min daily) prevent progression from prediabetes to diabetes in individuals who are at high risk. Also recent data from our team in Qatar and from a research group in the UK showed that weight loss of 7-15% of body weight during 3 months causes reversal of type 2 diabetes in those who had a recent diabetes diagnosis,” said Prof. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra.
“Therefore, I would like to emphasize the role of healthy eating and weight reduction of those with excess in both prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes,” he said.
Development of type 2 diabetes occurs over a very long period. Most patients have risk factors for a longtime, and then they develop pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a term used when blood sugar is above normal but not so high to diagnose diabetes.
“Patients with pre-diabetes have increased risk for complications. Patients with pre-diabetes convert to diabetes at a rate of about 8-10% per year. Thus most patients with pre-diabetes becomes diabetic in about 10 years. Also when diabetes occurs, it remains non-symptomatic for a longtime. During this period patients are not aware that they have diabetes. We estimate that about 3% of the adult population have diabetes but are not aware of it,” said Prof. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra.
For early detection of diabetes, the Primary Healthcare Corporation is running a screening clinic, SMART clinic, to screen for multiple chronic conditions including diabetes. Patients discovered during the screening are also guided to the right treatment pathway between primary health care and HMC.
