GETTING TO THE HEART OF DIABETES WITH A HOLISTIC APPROACH

At present, around 3.6 million Malaysians are living with diabetes – the highest rate of incidence in Asia. This figure is expected to more than double by 2025.

- Dr Azhari Rosman

In view of this, Institute Jantung Negara’s (IJN) senior consultant cardiologist Dr Azhari Rosman says that healthcare providers need to pay attention on helping diabetes patients manage their condition.

“There is this misconception that once you develop diabetes it’s the end of the road, but it is not the case at all. If you receive the right treatment and change your lifestyle habits, you can live a healthy and productive life. It’s all about managing risk,” Azhari adds.

This focus on managing risk is the cornerstone of IJN’s Diabetes Lifestyle Clinic. The heart centre has stayed ahead of the curve in offering specialised support for diabetic patients, having started its diabetes educator services in 2007. Azhari explains the centre recognised the need for diabetes care after assessing the profile of its own cardiovascular patients.

According to him around two-thirds of patients with diabetes were likely to have a serious cardiac event before developing any other diabetes-related problems such as kidney failure, blindness, loss of limbs, or stroke.

Just looking at patients who have undergone angioplasty at IJN, he says, around 60 percent have diabetes. So, their focus here is not about just controlling blood sugar levels, but it is about controlling cardiovascular risk factors.

For younger patients, the disease has a higher chance of being more aggressive, causing serious health complications. This is because many diabetics may not experience any symptoms initially.