New research links city lifestyles to rise of diabetes

A new study reveals that social and cultural factors, including time pressure, commuting time and where you live are playing a bigger part in the rise of diabetes in cities than previously thought.

University College London (UCL) conducted the study in five cities. Deemed to be the world’s largest ever study of urban diabetes it suggests that cities must reconsider public health and city planning strategies to address the rise of the condition. Over 400 million people worldwide have diabetes, more than two thirds of whom live in cities.

“By largely focusing on biomedical risk factors for diabetes, traditional research has not adequately accounted for the impact of social and cultural drivers of disease,” David Napier, Professor of Medical Anthropology, UCL, told Cities Today. “Our pioneering research will enable cities worldwide to help populations adapt to lifestyles that make them less vulnerable to diabetes.”

The study was compiled for the Cities Changing Diabetes international summit held in Copenhagen this week where it was announced that next year, Vancouver and Johannesburg will join Mexico City, Shanghai, Tianjin, Copenhagen, and Houston as partner cities.

Prompted by the findings, Danish pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, a partner of the network, has pledged to support the fight against urban diabetes via an investment of US$20 million.

“Approximately half of the amount will be invested in new research to complement the work already done in the mapping phase of the partnership,” said Jakob Riis, Executive Vice President, China, Pacific & Marketing, Novo Nordisk. “The remainder will be committed to providing Novo Nordisk expertise to enable new partnerships with cities and stakeholders; to increase awareness of the challenge and to share best practice between cities around the world.”

Some of the key findings from the study reveal that in Houston, the traditional notion of disadvantage being equal to vulnerability is no longer the rule and both people with and without financial constraints may be vulnerable to diabetes. In Mexico City, gender roles may contribute to increased vulnerability as women neglect their own health to avoid being seen as burdensome. And in Copenhagen, it was found that diabetes is often not highest in a person’s hierarchy of need, given many other social and health issues such as unemployment, financial difficulties and loneliness.

“The sharing of information and knowledge will continue as we move into the action phase where we plan to work with partners to put in place concrete plans that help to prevent and manage diabetes in cities,” added Riis. “The presence of many policy makers, academics and municipal representatives from the five partner cities at the summit in itself represents the beginning of action against urban diabetes.”