Did You Know?

… Diabetes accounts for 35% of all deaths in the 45 to 65age group in Trinidad and Tobago.

… The available data suggest that in Trinidad and Tobago, one in 8 adults are living with diabetes.

… Diabetes is more prevalent among Indo-Trinidadians than Afro-Trinidadians.

… 33% of Afro-Trinidadian patients attending health facilities in the country are both diabetic and hypertensive.

… An older study in the Pan American Journal of Public Health explored the relationship among gender, attendance at outpatient clinics and compliance with treatment among patients with type 2 diabetes in Trinidad. The study found:

• More women than men attend clinics; their compliance with treatment regimen was better than in men.

• Men were more likely to engage in health risk behaviors such as drinking and smoking.

• There was no marked gender difference in the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Trinidad.

• The number of persons (more than 20 years old) with diabetes in Trinidad and Tobago is predicted to increase from 39,000 in the year 2000 to 86,000 by year 2025.