“Diabetes treatment accounts for 9% of total health expenditure”

“Diabetes treatment accounts for 9% of total health expenditure”. This was expressed yesterday by the head of the HUCA Endocrinology and Nutrition Service, Elias Delgado, upon taking office as a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Principality of Asturias. He delivered a lighthearted talk titled ‘Diabetes Mellitus: From Milestone to Milestone, in Search of a Cure’ at the Headquarters of the College of Physicians.

During his dissertation, the endocrinologist made a detailed review of the historical development of diabetes and its treatment. This thing dates back to the year 1922, when researchers Banting and Best discovered insulin. A “significant event” for patients because until then, people with type 1 diabetes had died within months of receiving a diagnosis. Once insulin was discovered, the challenge was to sequence the risk factors and demonstrate with reliable evidence the effects of poor glycemic control on the body.

Delgado referenced the potential of new technologies in the medical field. “Within a few years, taking insulin multiple times a day will be unthinkable,” he said yesterday. In 2016, the first implant appeared that allowed continuous control of glucose levels. A discovery that, “combined with others such as subcutaneous infusion pumps”, makes it possible to dose insulin doses according to each patient’s needs.

Thus, in a hypothetical scenario, the ideal for professionals would be to “delay or reverse the onset of disease”. Along these lines, Elias Delgado’s research group is conducting research to test the use of umbilical cord stem cells in samples from patients with diabetes. “We have seen significant changes, but we still have to prove it,” said the professor of medicine, also at the University of Oviedo.

a mighty problem

During his speech, Delgado referred to diabetes as a “silent epidemic” whose numbers grow exponentially each year. In Asturias alone, 7,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes are diagnosed each year. This type is most widespread, associated with other pathologies such as obesity. Not surprisingly, the endocrinologist found that obesity “is not just an individual medical problem, but affects the whole of society.” According to the professional, a sedentary lifestyle or poor eating habits are behind the high rate of disease in the region.