The number of new cases of diabetes diagnosed each year in France has declined between 2010 and 2017, shows a study presented Wednesday, an encouraging trend reversal if it is confirmed in the coming years.
While in 2010, 11 men over the age of 45 out of 1,000 became diabetic, this incidence rate decreased to 9.7 / 1,000 in 2017, according to data from researchers at Public Health France presented at the annual congress of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Barcelona. Among French women over 45, the same rate went from 7.6 to 6.2, the researchers add.
"More prevention efforts are needed". In the last two decades, the incidence of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, was growing, favored in particular by the increase in overweight and obesity and the lack of physical activity, but also by the aging of the population. "This observed downward trend in the incidence of type 2 diabetes could represent a spark of hope for the control of the diabetes epidemic in France," note the authors of the study.
"However, this trend will need to be evaluated over a longer period of time in future studies," they continue, adding that "more prevention efforts are needed" to confirm and amplify it.
Prevalence figures, that is the total number of people living with diabetes in France, are still increasing, particularly because people with diabetes are better treated and therefore have a longer life expectancy.