JEDDAH: Around nine percent of diabetic patients die annually in Saudi Arabia. Diabetes causes 39 percent of arterial diseases. Thirty-two percent of diabetics suffer from kidney diseases that lead to kidney failure. Twenty-three percent suffer from eye diseases across Saudi Arabia. Diabetes is the main reason for foot amputation and is a major cause of depression.
These are among the points highlighted at the second diabetes symposium, organized by the King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) as part of World Diabetes Day. The conference, organized in collaboration with the Saudi Medical Association, called for effective solutions to the medical problem that is recording highest levels internationally.
Dr. Abdullah Mosa, head of the organizing committee and the diabetes unit at KAMC, said that the most important points discussed in the symposium related to diabetes in the Kingdom and the Gulf compared with its incidence worldwide.
Dr. Samia Bukhari of Jeddah’s King Fahd Hospital focused on the latest treatments that include those taken orally by patients to control the most common side effects for diabetes, such as fibromyalgia. She pointed out that some diabetic patients decide to take antibiotics, which do not cure fibromyalgia.
“However, Lyrica is an effective medication on an international scale and has been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration,” she said, noting that the conference also discussed a variety of other common illnesses related to diabetes, such as heart and eye diseases.
Dr. Abdul Halim Jamal Kinsara, head of the heart unit at KAMC, said there were different ways to prevent heart diseases and explained cholesterol as another common problem facing diabetic patients.
“According to the latest statistics, the Kingdom has the highest rate of increase for diabetes internationally, recording in one year what the world recorded on a period of several years,” said Kinsara, adding that the role of awareness should be stressed to reduce the common heart diseases and other related health issues, such as obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
The symposium, sponsored by Pfizer, aimed at unifying efforts to establish an effective mechanism to cure diabetes.
