What’s New
An updated version of the Diabetes Prevalence by Alberta Community figure is now available.
The Alberta Diabetes Atlas 2011 provides updated information on the number of people living with diabetes in Alberta, their related health conditions, and the health services they use. In the 2011 edition, you will find two additional chapters: 'Use of Indicated Laboratory Testing among People with Diabetes in Alberta' and 'Gestational Diabetes in Alberta'.
The ADSS interactive website is now available here: https://www.interactiveadss.ualberta.ca
This is a tool that can be used to generate timely information about diabetes in Alberta.
For a short introduction to the website, please click on the YouTube link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOVJWukWEjc
The latest ADSS Newsletter, released in February 2011, highlights recent Diabetes Trends in Alberta.
Featured Publications
and Reports
Diabetes in Alberta
The Alberta Diabetes Surveillance System (ADSS) provides an overall picture of the burden of diabetes in the province and a system to monitor trends of diabetes and its complications over time. The system tracks the number of people living with diabetes in Alberta, their related health conditions, and the health services they use. This information helps health care providers and policy makers understand the scope of the disease and how to deal with it. The ADSS is a partnership between the Institute of Health Economics/ACHORD and Alberta Health and Wellness.
By The Numbers
- More than 205,000 people living in Alberta have diabetes. That’s about 1 in every 20 people.
- 19,324 new diabetes cases were identified in 2009. That’s more than 1,600 new cases a month or 54 per day.
- Diabetes rates have almost doubled in the past decade.
- Adults with diabetes see family physicians and specialists 2-3
times more often than adults without diabetes and spend almost 3
more days in hospital
compared to their non-diabetic counterparts. - In 2007, the total average costs (physician, hospital and emergency department costs) for people with diabetes was 3 to 4 times higher than costs for people without diabetes.
- People with diabetes are twice as likely to die than people without diabetes; most people with diabetes die from heart attacks or strokes.
- After accounting for age, the South and North zones had the highest prevalence of diabetes in 2009 and Calgary zone had the lowest.
- It is estimated that 90-95% of all diabetes cases are type 2 (typically adult onset), and only 5-10% are type 1 (insulin dependent, usually diagnosed in childhood).