Diabetes more prevalent among Emiratis than expats, say doctors

Diabetes is prevalent more among the UAE nationals than the expat community, according to doctors at DM Healthcare.

Dr. PMM Sayed, Medical Director at Aster Medical Centre, a division of DM Healthcare, said on average 25 per cent of Emirati population has diabetes compared to 19-20 per cent expatriates in the UAE.

He said diseases like diabetes and hypertension are spreading fast among the growing middle class of expatriates due to stress, lack of exercise and eating processed foods.

Sayed also attributed rise in these diseases to improper lifestyle adopted by the UAE residents. To highlight the importance of these changing trends, the firm is holding “International Conference on Lifestyle Disorders in the Region” in Dubai on Friday, September 20, where speakers from UAE, Britain and India will address the audience.

The lineup of speakers at the international conference includes Professor Gordon T Mcinnes, University of Glasgow-UK; Professor Martin John Stevens from University of Birmingham-UK; Dr. Bassam Mahboub, Head of Pulmonology Department at Rashid Hospital and Consultant Respiratory Physician under Dubai Health Authority; Dr. Ashish Kumar, Senior Consultant Cardiologist at Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS)-India; Dr. Sami Alhashmi, Specialist Internal Medicine & Registrar Cardiologist at Medcare Hospital-Dubai; Dr. Prakash Pania, Specialist Endocrinologist at Aster Jubilee Medical Complex-Dubai; Dr. Shekhar S. Warrier, Specialist Cardiologist at Aster Medical Center-Dubai; and Dr. Kirti Mohan Marya, Specialist Orthopaedic Surgeon at Aster Medical Center-Dubai.

The International Medical Conference will cover a range of topics with presentations including Hypertension in the Middle East – an Overview; Hypertension Definition, Risk Factors & Pathophysiology; Management of Hypertension; How Do I Choose My Anti-Hypertensive?; Standards of Diabetic Care in Diabetics; Incretin-Based Therapies in the Treatment of Type-2 Diabetes; and Osteoporosis Management: Why? When? Who.
Quoting a Dubai Heart Center & PHC – Dubai Health Authority, he said hypertension is also among the top lifestyle disorder which increasingly leads to several fatal diseases, especially in the UAE.

About 40.8 per cent of the UAE adult population, aged between 35 and 70 years, suffers from hypertension. The study reveals that about 40.9 per cent of females and 40.6 per cent of males suffer from hypertension, among them 34.8 per cent are in urban areas and 52.8 per cent in rural areas.

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