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Can the rise of T2 Diabetes be termed an Epidemic.

JohnEGreen

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I just posited on another thread that as epidemic is a term for the rapid spread of an infectious disease it can't really be used to describe diabetes which is not infectious.

Then I found this article which gave me pause for thought. It argues that though not infectious type 2 diabetes can be a communicable disease

I was wondering what peoples thoughts on this were.

http://www.medanthrotheory.org/read/5313/can-epidemics-be-non-communicable
 
Interesting post.

in defence of those in the media using the epedemic wording, I'd consider that is driven by those who have to face the costings of providing care.

The buzz word is "bankrupting" the NHS.
May not be totally true, but I believe the fear is the costs will mount considerably.

And with regard to numbers

It's what the numbers were.
And what the numbers now are ,
and forecast to be,
that have the greater relevance.

any sudden increase of any disease, that has the potential to overwhelm the authorities ability to cope with it, could probably be described as of epidemic proportion, regardless of the totals v whole population.

Isn't that the point Dr Unwin makes regarding the numbers previously to the numbers recently at his practice.

Reflect that back by the numbers of other practices in the UK...then it gets worrying.

Perhaps not in the early stages but certainly as the disease progresses and people begin to need more and intensive treatments and care.
 
If you can have "an epidemic of knife crime" then I suppose you can have an epidemic of diabetes but the meaning of the word has been diluted.
 
I would say yes. Its a good way of describing it.

It has been described as a disease of affluence.
 
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It’s certainly not an “epidemic” of diabetes.

I wouldn’t even describe T2D as a disease.

Maybe a disastrous increase, but using the term epidemic overstates the issue, and understates the effects of a real epidemic.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
The words are irrelevant. Whatever the definition, diabetes is rising by the minute. It is frightening.
Click to expand...
Words are never irrelevant they form the very basis of our thought processes and communication of intelligence between one another.

That's why governments spend so much on propaganda and Gandi swayed a whole subcontinent and there are now over 2 billion Christians in the world and 1.5 billion Muslims.

And yes it is very scary
 
adjective.
  1. of the nature of an epidemic.
    "shoplifting has reached epidemic proportions"
    synonyms: rife, rampant, widespread, wide-ranging, extensive, sweeping, penetrating, pervading; More
We could say a vast % of people in the whole world are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and with so many more who are undiagnosed................
So I would simplify this and say, 'type 2 diabetes is reaching ( or has reached) epidemic proportions world wide'
 
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AIDS, Spanish flu. bird flu? All were described as epidemic but @Robinredbreast best summed it up for mine with the added word "proportions". No exaggeration with that statement from ANY angle, be it health or general cost impacts.
 
These four graphs in a recent lecture to healthcare providers by pediatric endocrinologist and researcher Robert Lustig, M.D. who recently retired from University of California San Francisco really helped me understand how bad things are now. Here's the lecture - (I'll post the four graphics in the next to posts)...

 


"Two to four fold more insulin released for the same level of glucose" over last 44 years.



"And if you're impaired glucose tolerant, it's even worse."
 
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Lustig believes that obesity causes diabetes in only 10 to 15 percent of cases, that more typically obesity is just another marker of diabetes. That certainly was my experience. I weighed 105 pounds when my problems began in my early to mid 20's with hypoglycemia and gestational diabetes. During the three decades that followed, my weight ballooned to 185 pounds eating normally: three meals a day following the current nutritional guidelines. With the exception of using the South Beach diet briefly to lose 20 pounds, I didn't "diet" until 2015 when I began eating the low carb ketogenic diet and dropped down to 138 pounds. Lustig believes diabetes is an "exposure" problem that is due to high fructose corn syrup and sugar contained in most processed foods and beverages.
 
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