In this talk, firstly, what we mean by “burden” in the context of diabetes complications and what we need to measure to estimate it will be explained.
In the IDF Diabetes Atlas Seventh Edition 2015, “Estimates of complications were not included due to the lack of comparability of available data”. Nevertheless, secondly, the international and national evidence for temporal trends in prevalence and incidence of classical diabetic complications (e.g. cardiovascular disease, renal disease, lower extremity amputations, premature mortality) will be reviewed. Pitfalls in interpreting the data will be highlighted.
Finally, evidence that non-classical complications (e.g. dementia, depression, heart failure) are emerging will be presented.