Diabetes Prevention Week 2022

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week is a joint campaign from NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK that is taking place 23rd May to 29th May this year.

The organisations are encouraging everyone to take a 2-minute check to find out their risk of Type 2 diabetes by using the Diabetes UK Know Your Risk Score at riskscore.diabetes.org.

If your score comes back as ‘at risk’, sign up to your free local Healthier You programme via self-referral. Or, if you think you or a family member may be at risk, ask at your GP practice about your free local Healthier You programme.

The Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme is an evidence-based lifestyle change programme which helps people at high risk of Type 2 diabetes to reduce their risk through managing their weight, eating more healthily and being more physically active.

What is type 2 diabetes?

  • Every two minutes someone finds out that they have type 2 diabetes. If current trends persist, 1 in 10 people will develop type 2 diabetes by 2035.
  • Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or the insulin it does produce doesn’t work properly (insulin resistance). It can be a combination of both.
  • Diabetes can cause serious long-term health problems. It’s a leading cause of vision loss in people of working age. It’s also responsible for most cases of kidney failure and lower limb amputation (other than accidents). People with diabetes are at least twice as likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke than those without diabetes.
  • Furthermore, the risk of COVID-19 related in-hospital death is doubled by type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is found in nearly one third of people who die with COVID-19.

Risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes

  • Your age. The older you are, the greater your risk is likely to be. However, those from the ethnic groups outlined below tend to be at risk at a younger age.
  • Your family history. You’re two to six times more likely to get type 2 diabetes if you have a parent, brother, sister or child with type 2 diabetes.
  • Your ethnicity. You’re more likely to get type 2 diabetes if you’re over 25 and from a Chinese, South Asian, Black Caribbean or Black African ethnic background.
  • Your weight. You are more at risk of type 2 diabetes if you carry excess weight or have obesity.
  • Your blood pressure. You’re more at risk if you’ve ever had high blood pressure.

What support is available?

Type 2 diabetes can be a very serious condition but there are lots of things you can do to reduce your risk of developing it such as achieving a healthy weight, getting more physically active and eating healthy food.

Your free local Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, or Healthier You programme for short, can support you in taking action in all these areas.

Making changes now can lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

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