Diabetes Drug Use Increases 40 Per Cent in the Last Five Years

Mon, 02 Aug 2010
The use of drugs for the treatment of diabetes has increased by rises 40 per cent in five years:

Prescriptions for drugs have gone up by 40 per cent in five years as the obesity epidemic has increased and diagnosis has improved.

In 2009, 35.5m prescriptions were written for drugs for the treament of diabetes, costing approximately £650m.

Experts say that this situation has arisen due to an increase in the prevalence of diabetes and obesity, the latter being related to type 2 diabetes .

The number of Type 1 diabetics, whose condition is unrelated to weight and lifestyle, is also increasing yearly.

GPs have been incentivised to identify people with diabetes and offer them treatment, increasing the percentage of those with the condition who get diagnosed and are undergoing treatment for their condition.

The development of new treatments has contributed to the increase in both volume of drugs prescribed and cost.

Diabetes now accounts for 1 in 13 prescriptions written by GPs in England, with 1 in 20 in 2005.

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