ONE in five Malaysian adults have diabetes but awareness about preventing the condition is still low, health experts said at an online forum today.  

Malaysians have a general awareness about of diabetes but do not take preventive action even if they know they are at risk, the Malaysian Endocrine and Metabolic Society (MEMS) said.

MEMS president Prof Dr Chan Siew Pheng said many Malaysians do not think diabetes has the potential to be the cause of their premature mortality.

“We suggest that anybody above the age of 30 get screened if they have high glucose levels. 

“If you are younger than the age of 30 but have very strong risk factors, like a strong family history of diabetic patients or being sedentary and gaining weight, you might want to do screening for diabetes too,” Chan said at the launch of the Beyond Sugar campaign via Zoom online.

Chan, who is also a senior consultant endocrinologist at Subang Jaya Medical Centre, added that Malaysia has a slightly younger cut-off age for diabetetics screening at 30, compared to other countries, because Malaysians develop diabetes at a younger age.

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019, an estimated 3.9 million adults have diabetes, which is about one in five adult Malaysians. 

The prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia is 11.7% among those in the 30 to 39 age range and 5.9% among those between 18 to 29.

The Beyond Sugar campaign aims to improve the understanding of Malaysians that diabetes goes beyond managing sugar consumption.

In a nationwide diabetes awareness survey – the Malaysian Diabetes Index – conducted from April 12 to May 9, MEMS collected responses from 2,539 people comprising diabetic and non-diabetic patients.  

According to the survey, one in three respondents believed that cutting down sugar is enough. 

About half (51%) thought diabetes is not hard to manage, while the other half also did not know that diabetes is incurable. 

MEMS said that it is also a cause for concern that only 26% of diabetic patients are consistently monitoring their blood sugar levels.

Project liaison of the Beyond Sugar campaign, Dr Foo Siew Hui, said the results showed that the majority are aware of diabetes and the risk factors. 

“But when we talk about health behaviour, it’s quite disappointing that despite having the knowledge, the action is not there,” said Foo. 

Foo is also a council member of MEMS and a consultant endocrinologist at Selayang hospital. 

She said one of the reasons for the inaction is Malaysians are in denial of the possibility of their having diabetes.

“They don’t want to face the fact that they may have a problem, so some wait for problems to come and then when the problem becomes symptomatic, it becomes too late.”

The figure of 3.9 million adults with diabetes in Malaysian was in 2019 and the number is expected to increase. 

“Malaysia has a high prevalence of diabetes. We do know that it is being driven by the increasing number of people who are overweight and obese, and the fact that we are an ageing population. 

“These drive the increasing number of people with diabetes, together with the fact that we are genetically predisposed,” said Chan.

The survey by MEMS was done in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Also present today at the online event was Dr Sanjeev Panchal, country president of AstraZeneca Malaysia. 

More information about the Beyond Sugar Campaign and Malaysian Diabetes Index is at  www.beyondsugar.my – June 15, 2021.