Diabetes in overseas-born Australians... Diabetes Australia

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06 July 2010

Diabetes Awareness Week 2010

Diabetes Australia-NSW will be spreading the message across the state about the link between diabetes and kidney disease this Diabetes Awareness Week from 11-17 July.

25 June 2010

Congratulations to Jimmy Little on success at APRA awards

Diabetes Australia-NSW would like to congratulate Jimmy Little after he was recognised on Monday for his achievements in music.

07 July 2010

New type 2 diabetes medication may help in type 1

A new medication for type 2 diabetes may also benefit those with type 1, reducing the rise in blood glucose levels following a meal and possibly lowering insulin needs.

29 June 2010

Insulin pump prevents night-time hypos

A special insulin pump which uses continuous glucose monitoring to predict hypoglycaemia and stop delivering insulin can help reduce the number of overnight hypos, according to a new study.

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Diabetes in overseas-born Australians

The NSW Department of Health says a quarter of our population speaks a language other than English at home. The two largest groups, Chinese and Arabic speakers, represent 5.6 per cent making up almost 350,000 people.

People who reported speaking Chinese at home make up 3.2 per cent, representing more than 200,000. This is an increase of one third between 1996 and 2001. The Arabic community makes up 2.3 per cent, representing almost 146,000 people, an increase of 20,000 between 1996 and 2001.

As further evidence of the need to cater for non-English speaking Australians, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) latest bulletin, ‘A Picture of Diabetes in Overseas-born Australians’ reports that proportionally more overseas born people, (35 per cent), report having diabetes. Among the groups with the highest prevalence of diabetes are Asian-born people, which include Chinese. People born in the Middle East also report high prevalence of diabetes, rate of hospitalisation and death.

In particular, men had a diabetes prevalence rate 3.6 times that of Australian-born men while the corresponding ratio for women is 2.4 times that of Australian-born women.

After those born in the Pacific Islands, Middle Eastern born people had the second highest rate of hospitalisation and mortality.

The AIHW bulletin also reveals that reported prevalence of diabetes is higher among those who arrived in Australia before 1991. Explaining why some groups appear to suffer disproportionably from diabetes compared to Australian-born people, the AIHW report lists environmental and genetic risk factors, changing lifestyle after migration, obesity, physical inactivity and socioeconomic status, as possible reasons.

Further information

The Facts Sheets and Pre-diabetes cards are free and available through Diabetes Australia-NSW on 1300 136 588 and relevant Diabetes Centres.