Almost 1 in 10 Winnipeggers has diabetes

November 14 is World Diabetes Day. How is Winnipeg doing?

Peg tells us…

9.2% of Winnipeggers aged 19 or older were treated for diabetes between 2009/10 and 2011/12.

The facts are: The percentage of Winnipeggers aged 19 or older with diabetes (either Type I or Type II) has increased by 48% from ten years earlier; growing from 6.2% in 1998/99 – 2000/01 to 9.2% in 2009/10 – 2011/12. At the community level, diabetes rates are consistently highest in Point Douglas, Inkster, and Downtown, and lowest in Assiniboine South, River Heights and Fort Garry. The diabetes rate has increased 2.3% in Winnipeg’s highest income area vs. an increase of 4.3% in the lowest income area, and 3% city-wide. Diabetes prevalence rates are defined by hospitalization, physician visits, or prescriptions for diabetes medications.

Why does this matter? A significant number of Winnipeggers have diabetes, and in Manitoba diabetes is a major cause of heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and loss of limbs due to amputation. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), Canadian adults with diabetes are twice as likely to die prematurely as those without diabetes. Diabetes prevention can reduce this burden of disease. The cost to the provincial health care budget is significant – a person with diabetes can face direct costs for medications and supplies ranging from $1,000 to $15,000 a year. The increase in overall rates is probably due to longer survival of people with diabetes because of improvements in medical and self-care, and continuing efforts around awareness and earlier identification of cases.

* More detail and source data for the above facts available at http://www.mypeg.ca/more-info, under the Diabetes prevalence tab

More facts on this subject available at:

Link to Peg data: http://tinyurl.com/pegdiabetes
Source of the data:  Manitoba Centre for Health Policy

Available for interviews:

On Peg:

Sumeep Bath
(204) 958-7740
sbath@iisd.ca
Media and Communications Officer, IISD

On diabetes and the Aboriginal community:

Anita Ducharme, Executive Director
National Aboriginal Diabetes Association
(204) 927-1224
aducharme@nada.ca

On the data:

Dr. Randy Fransoo, Associate Director Research
Manitoba Centre for Health Policy
(204) 789-3543
Randy_Fransoo@cpe.umanitoba.ca

On diabetes in Manitoba:
Andrea Kwasnicki, ‎Regional Director Manitoba/Nunavut Region Canadian Diabetes Association (204) 925-3800, ext 228
andrea.kwasnicki@diabetes.ca

About us:

Regularly, the team at Peg releases data and facts that help us understand our city better. This is one of those regular reports. Others can be found at http://www.mypeg.ca/blog.

Peg measures the health of our community year over year – in ways that count. It is the starting place for Winnipeg citizens, educators, policy makers, and many others to learn more about our city so we can lead change to create a better city for our children and their children.

At Peg we can all learn how our lives, our neighbourhood and our city is changing – for the good and the bad. Learn more at www.mypeg.ca.

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