Doctors discuss new data on diabetes complications and implications for GCC healthcare

At the course, funded by Lilly, and led by over 30 diabetes experts from Europe and the region, findings from the latest study show that diabetes patients with foot ulcerations double their mortality risk.

In a region which has some of the highest rates of diabetes in the world, five of which are in the GCC namely: Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the importance of addressing treatment and care options have become more daunting than ever.

The International Diabetes Federation projects that almost 60 million people in the Middle East will have diabetes by 2030 from 32.6 million in 2011.

Commenting on diabetes foot complications and other diabetes related complications, Dr. Abdulrazzaq Al Madani - President of the Gulf Group for the Study of Diabetes (GGSD) said: "Foot infections in persons with diabetes are serious as they take longer to cure compared to infections contracted by persons without diabetes. Diabetic lower limb amputation happen every 20 seconds and a person dies every second from diabetes-related causes; therefore it is very important for people living with diabetes to understand the importance of controlling their condition to avoid any related complications."

During the course, attendees discussed the complications of diabetes and participated in a live diabetic foot ulcers evaluation workshop.
In the November 2012 issue of Diabetologia, the journal of EASD, a meta-analysis of eight studies published between 1996 and 2011, showed that on a total of 17,830 patients, diabetic foot ulceration was associated with a nearly two-fold increased risk for all-cause mortality on top of diabetes alone.

Already, patients with diabetes have a double risk for both cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality compared to patients without diabetes. Diabetic foot ulceration, known to be the most common diabetes complication, adds on that already-elevated risk.

Patients with diabetes are predisposed to foot infections because of a weak vascular supply due to diabetes. Local trauma and/or pressure (often in association with lack of sensation because of neuropathy), in addition to microvascular disease, may result in various diabetic foot infections that can lead to gangrene and amputation.

Talking about diabetes complications, Professor Leszek Czupryniak, Secretary of the EASD Postgraduate Education Committee and Chair of EASD Extra-European Education said: "Clinical and research data about diabetes complications is constantly gathered and updated. Diabetes complications still represent a challenge for doctors and patients to prevent and manage. Our aim was to present the latest data from Europe and share it with the attending doctors from across the GCC. The data presented about foot ulcerations support the need for strategies focusing on both more aggressive modification of cardiovascular risk factors and ulcer, in order to attenuate the excess mortality associated with them."

As per Professor Abdul Jabbar - Senior Medical Advisor at Lilly, this training course covered almost all the key areas in the field of diabetes and its complications. A full day of the course was dedicated to discuss complications such as diabetes and the heart, diabetes and the kidney diabetes and the eye, and diabetes and the foot."

The course is the first to stem from a three-year partnership focused on continued medical education for next generation diabetologists from across the GCC. Under the partnership, EASD is working in collaboration with GGSD to develop yearly post-graduate training courses for doctors specialised in diabetes. Lilly provides funding for the programme as part of its ongoing commitment to diabetes education