Health Survey England Additional Analyses, Ethnicity and Health, 2011-2019 Experimental statistics

Diabetes is characterised by high blood glucose levels (hyperglycaemia). There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1, in which the body’s immune system attacks insulin-producing cells, and Type 2, where the body does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react to the insulin produced. In the UK around 90% of adults with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with lifestyle factors.  Being overweight or having a high waist measurement are risk factors for Type 2 diabetes.¹

Diabetes is a leading cause of avoidable mortality. Untreated hyperglycaemia is associated with damage and possible failure of many organs, especially the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels. Diabetes substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and tends to worsen the effect of other risk factors for CVD such as dyslipidaemia (abnormal levels of blood fats), hypertension (high blood pressure), smoking, and obesity.²

Participants who answered ‘yes’ to both the questions ‘Do you now have, or have you ever had diabetes?’ and ‘Were you told by a doctor that you had diabetes?’ are described as having doctor-diagnosed diabetes.

The HSE also measures undiagnosed diabetes using blood sample analytes but there were insufficient participants in several ethnic groups to report reliably.

Between 2011 and 2019 the proportion of adults with doctor-diagnosed diabetes increased from 7% to 9% among men and varied between 5% and 6% among women³.

The prevalence of doctor-diagnosed diabetes varied between 2% and 15% among adults in different ethnic groups. Once age was accounted for, the prevalence of doctor-diagnosed diabetes was lowest among adults from white and Chinese backgrounds and highest among Pakistani adults⁴.