Over 1.2 million people are being treated through the National Diabetes Programme, however, in Romania, there are still over 900,000 people with the condition who are not diagnosed, President of the Romanian Society of Diabetes, Nutrition, and Metabolic Diseases Bogdan Timar said on Thursday.

„The data we have shows that, at present, more than 1.2 million people in Romania are being treated through the National Diabetes Programme, receiving prescriptions for diabetes, which represents approximately 6.5% of the country’s population. Based on epidemiological data, we can estimate that in our country there are still over 900,000 people who have diabetes but do not know they have it, which (…) aligns with the global trend. Practically, around 5% of the population suffers changes characteristic of diabetes that are still undiagnosed or diagnosed but not yet treated for diabetes,” explained Timar during a press conference organised in the context of World Diabetes Day.

According to him, globally, for every person known to have diabetes, there is another person with the condition who is either unaware or not receiving treatment.

„This is easily explainable because type 2 diabetes, which accounts for about 90% of all diabetes cases globally, is asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic in its early stages. This means that, initially, a person may have type 2 diabetes without showing any signs or warning signals,” said Bogdan Timar.

He also mentioned that in Romania, there are nearly 900 practice licenses in the specialty of diabetes, nutrition, and metabolic diseases, and more than 200 resident doctors are in training.

AGREPRES