About one in 10 people in Hong Kong is suffering from diabetes and diabetes patients are getting younger, a diabetes specialist said yesterday.

Some patients may take oral drugs to lower blood glucose, but they often gain weight as a result of the medication and end up being unable to control the blood glucose level anymore.

According to Prof Juliana Chan of Chinese University's Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, the World Health Organization pointed out in 2007 that diabetes has become a growing concern worldwide.

At present, there are about 230 million diabetes patients around the world but the number may exceed 350 million by 2025.

Quoting statistics from the Department of Health, Chan said there are about 700,000 diabetes patients in Hong Kong. In 2006, diabetes was the ninth major cause of death, accounting for 1.4 percent of total deaths then.

"Diabetes patients are getting younger," she said. "The rate of diabetic complications is very high in Asia, curtailing life expectancy by 10-12 years," Chan said.

Normally, patients control their blood glucose through diet, physical exercise and prescribed oral drugs.

But Chan noted that 74 percent of the 579 diabetes patients from four Asian countries involved in a survey failed to control their blood glucose level through prescribed drugs.

Over one-third of them even experienced one or more hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) symptoms with their prescribed drugs.

(HK Edition 02/21/2008 page1)