Diabetes cases in Spain have increased 90% between 1900 and 2013, according to an international macro -state that analyzes the health of the world population between 1990 and 2013 that is published on Monday in 'The Lancet'.
The study, conducted by more than a thousand researchers from one hundred countries, analyzes more than 300 acute and chronic diseases and quantifies the impact of health problems that prevent mobility, audition or vision or cause pain, but which are notfatal or cause death.
In conclusion, it warns that more than 95% of the world's population has some health problem, and, as the number of elders, people who live in "not healthy" conditions will also grow in thenext years.
The work, coordinated by the Institute of Health and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington, includes a section on the health of the Spaniards, which has had the collaboration of the epidemiologist Ferrán Catalá-López, of the Spanish Agency of Medicines andHealth products (AEMPS).
In Spain, in 2013 the main disabled but not fatal ailments were diabetes, low back pain, cervical pain, depression, falls, age -related hearing problems, migraine, other muscle disorders, obstructive pulmonary diseaseChronicle (COPD) and anxiety.
According to the study, life expectancy in Spain has improved in recent years, but, with this, the number of non -mortal diseases that since 1990 are "a growing threat to the health of Spaniards."
Speaking, Catalá-López explains that, in Spain, "Diabetes is the main cause of years of life lost due to disability (there were more than half a million in 2013), being also the disease that has increased the most in recent decades (a 90 % increase during the 1990-2013 period) ".
As for the differences in Spain with other countries, the study reflects that patterns are very similar to those of other places in the European Union or North America, where "chronic noncommunicable diseases stand out, although slight differences are identified in thepositions that occupy some and other ailments between countries, "says the Spanish epidemiologist.
In developing countries, as in sub -Saharan Africa, infectious diseases such as malaria or HIV/AIDS are among the main causes of poor health.
The study also draws attention to the growing increase of people with "multimorbility", that is, those who have more than one disease at the same time, the Spanish researcher points out.
"This is mainly due to the increase in longevity in most countries and regions of the planet," concludes Catalá-López.
In the opinion of the AEMPS researcher, "the results of the study must serve to guide the debates to establish health policies and reorient health services in the face of the challenges of chronic diseases and multimorbility."
