What's it like for diabetics living in Spain?
As November 14th is World Diabetes Day, we've analysed the situation for diabetics in Spain, the EU country with the second highest prevalence of the endocrine disease.
In the last four years, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in Spain has gone from around four million to six million, making it the second country in the EU with the highest number of diabetics after Germany. Experts predict that by 2025, nine million will be affected.
The rise in unhealthy dietary habits and obesity in Spain is at the source of this, with young people increasingly affected.
"We're detecting type 2 diabetes in 30-year-old patients," Ana Cebrián, spokesperson for the Diabetes Group of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC), told El Español.
Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease which means that people are unable to regulate their blood sugar levels. It occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it makes.
According to the World Health Organisation, diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
Spain has an average annual expenditure of €2,817 for each person who suffers from diabetes. This is a lower figure than much of the rest of Europe, but it represents an increase of 11.7 percent since 2019, the year in which spending per person was €2,485, with a 42 percent increase in patients.
In a recent new study, the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) estimates that a third of people affected with diabetes in Spain are undiagnosed.
If you’re a new diabetic and you live in Spain or are thinking of moving here, there are several factors you should consider when managing your disease here.
Firstly, it’s worth noting that since the pandemic waiting times to see a doctor in Spain have increased dramatically. Waiting lists to see a specialist such as an endocrinologist can take even longer.
Despite this, Spain has managed to decrease premature deaths from diabetes from 11.98 out of 100,000 inhabitants in 1990 to 4.32 out of 100,000 in 2020, whereas on a global scale the World Health Organisation has warned that diabetes is the fourth cause of premature death in women and eighth in men currently.
"The fact that death from diabetes has decreased in recent years is very good news because it means that we treat it better and better," Cebrián argued.
It’s recommended that diabetics in Spain see a doctor to help monitor their disease every three to four months, but waiting times to see an endocrinologist in recent years have increased to over a year.
If you have diabetes and are moving to Spain, it’s important to get registered with either the public health system or get private insurance as soon as possible so that you can get on a waiting list quickly.
Remember, some private insurers won’t cover you have a pre-existing condition though, so you need to find out if you will be covered first.
Ozempic injections are typically given to patients to treat type 2 diabetes. They can purchased with a prescription at local pharmacies and for diabetics are subsidised by the government. Currently, it costs €4.24 for four doses.
U-100, U-80 and U-40 are the syringes the most commonly used in Spain. Insulin can be measured in different ways in different countries, so make sure you’re receiving the correct dose here.
There are various support groups for diabetics living in Spain too, depending on where you live. For example, the Madrid Diabetes Association, is an association with 3,000 members for children, young people and adults with diabetes and their families.
It provides emotional information about the disease and its complications and educates through its more than 60 annual activities.
If you speak Spanish, https://www.sediabetes.org/ has lots of information, guides and resources.
Although Spain is a country that loves its sugary drinks, pastries and desserts, supermarkets in Spain stock many items without added sugar and many products are specifically labelled as for ‘diabéticos’ or diabetics, such as certain brands of chocolate for example. Mercadona is a good chain that you can rely on to stock a good range of these products.
Other big supermarket chains such as Carrefour and Lidl also stock an increasing amount of products aimed at diabetic customers.
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In the last four years, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in Spain has gone from around four million to six million, making it the second country in the EU with the highest number of diabetics after Germany. Experts predict that by 2025, nine million will be affected.
The rise in unhealthy dietary habits and obesity in Spain is at the source of this, with young people increasingly affected.
"We're detecting type 2 diabetes in 30-year-old patients," Ana Cebrián, spokesperson for the Diabetes Group of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC), told El Español.
Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease which means that people are unable to regulate their blood sugar levels. It occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it makes.
According to the World Health Organisation, diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
Spain has an average annual expenditure of €2,817 for each person who suffers from diabetes. This is a lower figure than much of the rest of Europe, but it represents an increase of 11.7 percent since 2019, the year in which spending per person was €2,485, with a 42 percent increase in patients.
In a recent new study, the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) estimates that a third of people affected with diabetes in Spain are undiagnosed.
If you’re a new diabetic and you live in Spain or are thinking of moving here, there are several factors you should consider when managing your disease here.
Firstly, it’s worth noting that since the pandemic waiting times to see a doctor in Spain have increased dramatically. Waiting lists to see a specialist such as an endocrinologist can take even longer.
Despite this, Spain has managed to decrease premature deaths from diabetes from 11.98 out of 100,000 inhabitants in 1990 to 4.32 out of 100,000 in 2020, whereas on a global scale the World Health Organisation has warned that diabetes is the fourth cause of premature death in women and eighth in men currently.
"The fact that death from diabetes has decreased in recent years is very good news because it means that we treat it better and better," Cebrián argued.
It’s recommended that diabetics in Spain see a doctor to help monitor their disease every three to four months, but waiting times to see an endocrinologist in recent years have increased to over a year.
If you have diabetes and are moving to Spain, it’s important to get registered with either the public health system or get private insurance as soon as possible so that you can get on a waiting list quickly.
Remember, some private insurers won’t cover you have a pre-existing condition though, so you need to find out if you will be covered first.
Ozempic injections are typically given to patients to treat type 2 diabetes. They can purchased with a prescription at local pharmacies and for diabetics are subsidised by the government. Currently, it costs €4.24 for four doses.
U-100, U-80 and U-40 are the syringes the most commonly used in Spain. Insulin can be measured in different ways in different countries, so make sure you’re receiving the correct dose here.
There are various support groups for diabetics living in Spain too, depending on where you live. For example, the Madrid Diabetes Association, is an association with 3,000 members for children, young people and adults with diabetes and their families.
It provides emotional information about the disease and its complications and educates through its more than 60 annual activities.
If you speak Spanish, https://www.sediabetes.org/ has lots of information, guides and resources.
Although Spain is a country that loves its sugary drinks, pastries and desserts, supermarkets in Spain stock many items without added sugar and many products are specifically labelled as for ‘diabéticos’ or diabetics, such as certain brands of chocolate for example. Mercadona is a good chain that you can rely on to stock a good range of these products.
Other big supermarket chains such as Carrefour and Lidl also stock an increasing amount of products aimed at diabetic customers.
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