Type 2 diabetes ‘spreading at faster rate than expected in UK’

The growing problem of type 2 diabetes is accelerating at a faster pace than expected, according to a new report.

Analytics firm Exasol has analysed 713 million rows of data from NHS Digital and the NHS Business Services Authority, looking at every GP prescription dispensed by English pharmacies between August 2010 and July 2016.

It was revealed that over the past five years, the number of prescriptions of type 2 diabetes medications has risen by one-third, with prescriptions for the first six months of 2016 already up by more than eight percent compared to the same period of 2015.

As of the beginning of 2016, 3.5 million adults were believed to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK, meaning five million people are expected to have the disease by 2020 – five years sooner than previously forecast.

The report also showed that more people are failing to respond to initial treatment, resulting in a significant surge in the number of second-line therapies being dispensed.

Sean Jackson, chief marketing officer of Exasol, said: "Type 2 diabetes is an enormous threat and uncovering insights using big data shows the factual reality of the problem and steps can begin to be taken to reduce the threat."

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