Georgia Faces Child Diabetes Epidemic

Georgia Faces Child Diabetes Epidemic

Posted by: The Financial

The FINANCIAL -- The number of children with diabetes increased by over 14% in the last 10 years according to statistics of the Diabetic Children’s Protection Association of Georgia.   

The increase is about 14%, which is twice as much as the rate of diabetes type II. By 2010 the number of diabetic children increased by 30. The Association has recorded 49 cases of diabetes in children during the 5 months of 2011.  There are two main types of Diabetes. Type I is an auto-immune disease, known as juvenile-onset diabetes. It can appear very quickly and aggressively. It may lead to coma or loss of consciousness.

Type II is strongly genetic in origin but lifestyle factors such as excess weight, inactivity, high blood pressure and poor diet are major risk factors for its development. Symptoms may not show for years and, by the time they appear, significant problems may have developed. It’s the most severe disease. It can be hidden from 7 to 11 years and then appear as absolutely another disease, like a heart attack, blindness, gangrene etc.

On February 15 the Government made changes in the State Health Protection Programme for 2011. These changes envisage a voucher system for everybody who benefits from state programmes.  Professor Koba Amirkhanashvili, President of the Diabetic Children’s Protection Association, told The FINANCIAL that the new system has caused serious problems for diabetic children.

“Since 2005-2006 diabetes has been appearing more in males than in females,” noted Amirkhanashvili. “In 2006 out of newly registered diabetic children 52 were boys and 33 girls. The statistic was almost the same in 2010. Out of 49 children with diabetes 30 are boys.”  Unfortunately the exact cause of diabetes in the children is unknown. Statistics show that in winter, due to the H1N1 virus, the number of diabetic children significantly increased.

“The most serious risk factor is the increase of the HLA antivirus in the body. As a rule in winter flu and viruses are more active than at other times of the year,” noted Amirkhanashvili. “After the August War in 2008 the number of children with Diabetes significantly increased, especially in regions close to the conflict zone. Diabetes of Type I can easily be triggered by diet as well. Unhealthy food with chemical elements and many calories can cause obesity. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes appearing by 66%.”

Corresponding to the risk factors the best prevention is actual control and regulation of nourishment. In addition parents should pay great attention to flu-like symptoms and take immediate treatment measures. When suffering from flu any kind of vaccination is especially forbidden, in order not to add viruses to the body.

Diabetes is an incurable disease. But it can be managed and the patient can live a long life. Regular treatment requires significant financial spendings. Regular examination of blood and organs, which is recommended to do a minimum of every two months, costs from 300 USD on average at the Georgian Diabetes Centre. Blood glucose monitoring systems such as Accu-Chek cost 50 USD in Tbilisi , 50 pieces of test strips - 30 USD.  Since 1996 the Georgian Government has been implementing a programme which envisages the financial maintenance of diabetic children under 18 and pensioners up to 60 at the expense of the State Budget.

“We have two programmes. The first programme envisages maintenance, to manage diabetes in children under 18 and young adults,” explained Lela Tsotsoria, Senior Specialist of the Department of Public Health Programme. “Patients can get an endocrinology service, laboratory analysis, visit an ophthalmologist and get medical education courses free of charge. For each patient the budget envisages 508 GEL.  According to the second programme, babies under 3 and pensioners up to 60 can use special dispensary help. Patients in a diabetic coma can use hospital treatment for three days. In addition Insulin is free for every diabetic.”  As Amirkhanashvili complained, changes in these programmes, which are connected to too many documents, have caused a serious deficit of medicines.

"The changes were badly organized. The contracts weren’t signed in a timely manner. That caused a late supply of the medicines. If we didn’t have our own stock, it could have led to drastic results.  I’m proud that since our establishment in 1996, no single child has died because of diabetes in Georgia. In other post soviet countries there is still 7-8% mortality data due to the disease".   According to Professor Ramaz Khurashvili, President of the Georgian Diabetes Centre, by 2010 9.2% of the Georgian population had diabetes. In 2000 the percentage was only 7.3%.

“These days about half a million of the Georgian population has diabetes. Since 2000 we have been 36th in the statistics of the International Diabetes Federation,” noted Khurashvili. “The disease is growing faster than was expected. By the beginning of the ‘90s there were 150 million diabetics worldwide. Their number was expected to increase to 200 million. But the data boosted to 350,000,000 unexpectedly.”

Elena Shelestova, Board Member of the International Diabetes Federation also agrees that the number of diabetics has been rapidly increasing in recent times.  “80% suffer from type II and the remaining 20% has diabetes type I,” noted Shelestova. “Scientists suppose that their number will hike to half a billion by 2030. Several other diseases can arise from diabetes as well. But unfortunately there are no statistics of which and how many diseases are caused by having  diabetes, e.g. how many people needed leg amputations and how many diabetics have had heart attacks.”

There is one more type of Diabetes disease - Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). It is first diagnosed during pregnancy. Risk factors for GDM include a family history of diabetes, increasing maternal age, obesity and being a member of a community or ethnic group with a high risk of developing type II diabetes. The diabetes may absolutely disappear after childbirth. It may disappear but appear again after several years. The diabetes may cause some complications during childbirth as well. There is a high risk of either the mother or child dying.

Please call the Foot, Ankle & Lower Leg Center office anytime @702-878-2455 between Monday – Friday and we would be happy to set up an appointment for you.  Please visit our website @ www.FallCenter.com or www.walkwithdiabetes.com   The Foot, Ankle & Lower Leg Center has Diagnostic imaging:  Digital X-Rays, Ultrasound or Advanced Imaging will be used to aid in the diagnosis.

Dr. Anthony Ricciardi at the Foot, Ankle & Lower Leg Center has completed training in endoscopic/minimally invasive surgery for chronic heel pain and nerve pain, foot and ankle joint replacement for restoring pain free motion, arthroscopic surgery, bunion surgery, fracture repair, flat foot correction, external fixation for complex deformities and extensive experience in peripheral nerve surgery including diabetic peripheral neuropathy and reconstructive surgery of previously failed foot surgical procedures.  In addition to his surgical training Dr. Ricciardi focuses on sports medicine of the foot and ankle through regenerative techniques using the patient’s own blood/platelets for healing chronic foot and ankle problems (pain) as a result of repetitive sport injuries.  This cutting edge technology enables patients to continue training with little or no down time.  Dr. Ricciardi continues to be active in teaching and training other podiatric surgeons on innovative surgical techniques in foot surgery.  Dr. Ricciardi is Board Certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery, a Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and Fellow of the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons.  Dr. Ricciardi’s vision is to bring each patient the most current state of the Art Technology and personalized treatment options to meet their Foot and Ankle needs (from conservative care to surgical options).  Dr. Ricciardi believes in quality service and puts his patients first!