The number of Filipinos with diabetes--a metabolic disorder with serious complications like stroke, nerve damage and kidney failure—could nearly double in the next 17 years, an alarming trend that mirrors the global situation, health experts said Tuesday
The long-term complications of diabetes include blindness, heart and blood vessel disease, kidney failure, amputation of limbs, nerve damage and stroke.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by a genetic predisposition and Type 2, which accounts for over 90 percent of Philippine cases, is associated with lifestyle. The last type is gestational diabetes, a condition of pregnant women during pregnancy.