Yale U.: ‘Climate change is worsening diabetes worldwide’ – ‘A warming world makes diabetes deadlier’
By Marc Morano
February 4, 2025
12:41 pm
Heat waves exacerbate the danger of the disease.
By Sanket Jain
Headed for a routine doctor visit last year, Asha Sonawane, 63, collapsed after stepping outside her house in Bhadole village of India’s Maharashtra state as temperatures soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 F). Her daughter Alka rushed to her with lime water and an energy drink, which relieved her a bit. But her legs hurt and she felt weak.
Dehydration in extreme heat had exacerbated Sonawane’s diabetes mellitus – a chronic medical condition in which blood glucose levels are too high – her doctor later explained.
World Health Organization data shows diabetes has skyrocketed by 315% since 1990, with cases surging in low- and middle-income countries. A 2017 study indicated that rising heat may explain some of that rise, perhaps by reducing the activity of a certain kind of fat. The researchers found that a one-degree Celsius rise in temperature could cause over 100,000 new diabetes cases annually in the U.S. alone.
In 2021, more than 2 million people worldwide died from diabetes and related kidney diseases, and more than half those affected by diabetes did not take medications in 2022. Still more could suffer as global warming exacerbates the disease. One study found that in a high-emission scenario, China’s heat-related diabetes mortality could multiply eightfold by the 2090s.
https://www.climatedepot.com/2025/02/04/climate-change-is-worsening-diabetes-worldwide-a-warming-world-makes-diabetes-deadlier/
