Max Pemberton is a British medical doctor, journalist and author. He is a columnist for Britain’s The Daily Telegraph and has won several Medical Journalists Association awards. Writing in a recent edition of The Spectator, he made an extraordinary statement which clearly emphasizes the often unknown critical and life-threatening effects of type 2 diabetes:
“A recent large epidemiological
study showed that, for those diagnosed with HIV now, life expectancy is similar
to someone who does not have the virus. The medical profession now considers
HIV a chronic disease; it’s regarded in public health terms in the same
category as, for example, type 2 diabetes. As a
doctor I can tell you that, medically speaking, I’d rather have HIV than
diabetes. While
this might sound shocking or surprising, the facts speak for themselves: the
prognosis for those with type 2 diabetes is much worse than for those with HIV.
The risk of stroke in newly treated type 2 diabetes is more than double that of
the general population. People with diabetes are four times more likely to have
cardiovascular disease than someone without diabetes. In 20 to 30 per cent of
people with diabetes, there’s damage to the kidney filtering system leading to
kidney failure and the need for dialysis. Damage to the delicate vessels in the
eye is a leading cause of blindness and damage to nerves is a leading cause of
foot wounds and ulcers, which frequently lead to foot and leg amputations. For
those with HIV, providing they take their medication, there are very few
problems.”
Max Pemberton, “Life After AIDS”, The Spectator, 19 April 2014 http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9185591/why-id-rather-have-hiv-than-diabetes/
Type 2 Diabetes Risks – brief overview
from CNN
Photo: duisburgbunny (flickr CC)
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