World's First Online Map Tracks Diabetes in Australia

by Terri Potratz | November 11, 2008 at 02:22 pm

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A new website that tracks the spread of diabetes across Australia shows that diagnoses can be up to 20 times more likely in certain areas of the country. The Australia Diabetes Map is the first in the world to display the geographical distribution of diabetes occurrences online, and also breaks results down by gender, age and type of diabetes.

Diabetes Australia chief executive Matt O'Brien, who supplied the diabetes register data feeding into the website map, said it was the first time people could see for themselves the extent to which the disease had spread where they lived.

The differences in prevalence rates across communities had raised questions, Mr O'Brien said. "Do things like level of income and education match up with trends in what we're seeing with diagnosed diabetes?"

Diabetes is Australia's fastest-growing illness, with poor diet and lack of exercise contributing to 275 new diagnoses every day.

Genetics also plays a part inmaking some families and ethnic groups more susceptible than others.

The online map was launched yesterday with the participation of Diabetes Australia and Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, and is expected to assist politicians with lobbying for more effective preventative and treatment measures in their specific electorates. It is freely available to everyone online.

The ability to see visually which areas are hardest hit by diabetes allows the government and health professionals to target those areas with increased services, and also allows researchers to investigate how and why the prevalance of the chronic disease varies according to region.

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