It’s estimated almost 1.9 million Australians have diabetes, and numbers are growing. Between 2013 and 2023, the total number of people known to be living with diabetes across the country rose by 32% .
As is the case for a range of health conditions , diabetes disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indigenous Australians are three times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Indigenous Australians. They are 4.
4 times more likely to die from it. Among other factors, physical activity plays an important role in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. But our new study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia , shows we don’t know enough about the role of physical activity in preventing and managing type 2 diabetes in First Nations people.
What is diabetes? Diabetes is a condition where there’s too much glucose (sugar) in the blood. There are different types, but the most common is type 2 diabetes. In people with type 2 diabetes , the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, a hormone which regulates blood sugar levels.
Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include having a family history of diabetes, being overweight, and having high blood pressure. The high rates of diabetes in Indigenous communities are to a large extent influenced by the social determinants of health . For example, we know food insecurity disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, especially in rural and rem.