36 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 2 • NOVEMBER 2023 DIABETES NEWS SA JOURNAL OF DIABETES & VASCULAR DISEASE Women and diabetes: Pregnancy is an opportunity for intervention Research has shown that in South Africa, women who have gestational diabetes in pregnancy have a heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In fact, 50% of them will develop this chronic disease within 10 years. As part of efforts to begin turning the tide against alarming statistics such as this, the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Diabetes Research Centre and the Diabetes Alliance have jointly organised the 2023 Diabetes Summit, which will take place at the University’s Future Africa Institute on 15 November, following World Diabetes Day on 14 November. The theme of the summit is ‘Diabetes Targets, Translating Policy into Reality’, and the event aims to advance the response to the prevalence of the disease in South Africa and accelerate progress towards the implementation of the national strategic plan for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The summit will also explore the role of various players in improving the prevention and control of diabetes and hypertension in the context of people-centred health services. Diabetes among women Of major concern is the rate of incidence of diabetes in women in South Africa. ‘In terms of mortality, according to Statistics South Africa (2016/17), diabetes is the number one cause of death among women in the country,’ says Dr Patrick Ngassa Piotie of UP’s Diabetes Research Centre. He is also chairperson of the Diabetes Alliance and is leading the summit’s organising committee. Complications associated with diabetes are what result in death, as the high level of glucose in the blood affects target organs such as the heart and kidneys. ‘Women are more at risk of heart disease than men because the complications of diabetes are much higher in women,’ says Professor Sumaiya Adam, a maternal–foetal medicine specialist at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. ‘A woman with diabetes has twice the risk of having a heart attack than a man with diabetes. She also has a higher risk of target organ damage.’ The high incidence rate of diabetes in women can be attributed to various risk factors. Lifestyle is a common cause, where unhealthy dietary choices and lack of exercise contribute to obesity. This is compounded by environmental conditions, where socio-economic conditions often aren’t conducive to healthy living. Ethnicity is another risk factor. In South Africa, people of Indian descent are predisposed to developing diabetes. Stress has also been shown to have an impact on health, especially that of working mothers, which predisposes them to disease, Prof Adam says.
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