Diabetes related amputations top 700 each year

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

Over 700 persons in Sri Lanka have their limbs amputated every year due to diabetes, the National Diabetes Centre said. According to a survey carried out by the Diabetes Centre, one in four urban adolescents in Sri Lanka is sliding down a slippery slope into an abyss where diabetes awaits them.

This first-ever Sri Lankan survey of young persons screened to ascertain the risk factors for diabetes, has thrown up startling but not unexpected results. The research has found that 24 percent of the adolescents between 10 to 14 years had two or more risk factors for the development of type two diabetes. The risk factors include increased body mass index, raised waist circumference, high levels of physical inactivity and first-degree family history.

The most significant risk factor detected among the 10 to 40 age group was physical inactivity which had an overall prevalence of about 45 percent while the prevalence of central obesity was 38 percent with more females than males being prone to this risk factor.