About 160,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes in Taiwan annually, which is higher than the number of births recorded in the nation last year, Diabetes Association of the Republic of China chairman Huang Chien-ning (黃建寧) said on Wednesday.
Many Taiwanese have misunderstandings about insulin use and they miss the “golden window” for the treatment of diabetes, Huang said.
He urged people to take advantage of subsidized health examinations so that the disease could be detected early and a personalized treatment plan could be devised.
Photo: CNA
“Early symptoms of diabetes are not obvious and tend to be ignored, which can lead to complications such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, renal failure and retinal detachment,” Huang said.
The number of young people diagnosed with diabetes has been increasing, Huang said, adding that they tend to demonstrate poor compliance with medication use, which makes treatment difficult.
There are about 2.3 million diabetic people in Taiwan, but only 1.8 million are being regularly treated through the National Health Insurance system, he said, citing government data.
There is also a high ratio of people with diabetes having other comorbidities, Taiwan Medical Clinics Association chairman Chen Hung-lin (陳宏麟) said.
“Many people worry that once they start diabetes treatment they will be stuck taking insulin or undergoing hemodialysis for the rest of their lives,” he said.
Misconceptions about medication has been known to have delayed treatment for many people, he said, adding that there are now second-generation insulin treatments that are stable and effective.
Another misconception is that diabetes can be managed with nutritional supplements, he said, adding that in reality, each patient requires a customized treatment.
Chen also gave an example of how treatments have improved.
A patient had been treated in hospital for 10 years, taking four different oral medications and supplements, but their glycated hemoglobin levels remained elevated, he said.
However, after doctors began an insulin treatment, the patient’s glycated hemoglobin levels returned to normal, Chen said.
New treatment methods also involve digital tools, Chen said, adding that more than 250 medical institutions in Taiwan are using such devices to help more than 48,000 diabetes patients manage their blood sugar levels.
People over 40 can undergo checkups subsidized by the National Health Administration once every three years, and people over 65 can do so once a year, he said, urging people to take advantage of the subsidies.
TORTURE, DEATH: Victims were allegedly beaten with clubs, drugged and handcuffed after answering ads for work that led to forced withdrawals from their bank accounts The head of a criminal ring that allegedly tortured 58 people and killed three others has been arrested and the victims freed, Taoyuan authorities said yesterday. Police arrested Chen Wei-hua (陳樺韋), 37, in Taoyuan’s Gueishan District (龜山) at about 11pm on Friday, and seized NT$520,000 (US$16,157) in cash at his residence, they said. Forensic investigators determined that Chen was running a human trafficking ring that engaged in kidnapping, torture and extortion, authorities said. Sixteen others believed to be a part of the organization were also arrested, they said. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the arrests followed swift efforts by police. “These arrests required diligence,
MASKS STAY ON: The changes include a shorter self-disease prevention period for confirmed cases and the removal of body temperature scanners from public venues Starting today, confirmed COVID-19 cases are required to isolate at home for seven days, followed by up to seven days of self-health management, to end when they test negative with a rapid test, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The new policy, dubbed “7+n,” replaces the “7+7” rule that required confirmed cases to isolate at home for seven days, followed by seven days of self-health management. The “7+n” isolation rule would further be shortened to “5+n” on Monday next week, the CECC said. Starting today, close contacts who live with a confirmed case no longer need to isolate at home,
‘UNSAFE AND UNPROFESSIONAL’: The behavior of Chinese military planes makes an incident leading to a cross-strait conflict more likely, a US defense official said China is unlikely to launch an invasion of Taiwan in the next couple of years, but it might raise military pressure on the nation, a senior US defense official said on Friday. This increases the risk of a military incident across the Taiwan Strait, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told a forum at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. It is unlikely that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has made a decision to force Taiwan to unify with China, “but he has certainly given his military the charge to have that capability by the end of the decade,
Researchers have confirmed that a young adult leopard cat named Lulu has given birth to two cubs after recent images revealed their presence in Nantou County, the Endemic Species Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture said on Wednesday. The images, which showed Lulu with the two young cubs in a mountainous area of Xinyi Township (信義), were taken on Oct. 12 by motion-activated cameras installed in the area by an institute research team responsible for the conservation of the species, which is endangered in Taiwan. It was the first time the three leopard cats were filmed together since Lulu was
![person holding black tube](https://diabeets.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/pexels-photo-1001897-940x560.jpeg)