\n<\/p>\n
The Global Burden of Type 1 Diabetes Is Not Shared Equally<\/p>\n
People with this autoimmune disease face much shorter life expectancies in lower-income nations.<\/p>\n
By Carin Leong edited by Kelso Harper<\/span><\/p>\n This video is part of \u201cInnovations In: Type 1 Diabetes,\u201d an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Vertex.<\/p>\n Carin Leong: Type 1 diabetes is rising around the world\u2014and no one knows why.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n So type 1 diabetes\u2014unlike type 2\u2014is an autoimmune disease. It happens when your immune system attacks the pancreas cells that make insulin. No insulin means your blood sugar skyrockets, and without treatment, it can be deadly.<\/p>\n Scientists aren\u2019t totally sure why cases are climbing. It\u2019s partly because we\u2019ve gotten better at detecting type 1 diabetes early on. But that\u2019s not the whole story. Researchers have a handful of hypotheses\u2014like maternal and early-childhood diets, exposure to microbes in the environment, viral infections early in life or even gut bacteria\u2014that could be potential factors in triggering this autoimmune condition.<\/p>\n Treatment of type 1 diabetes has come a long way, but the advancements aren\u2019t shared equally. In rich countries, a 10-year-old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes has access treatments. This can be insulin therapy, glucose monitors or even artificial pancreas technology. And they can live well into their 70s, which is not far from the life expectancy of the general population. In poorer countries, that same 10-year-old child might live just 10 more years.<\/p>\n Experts say millions of lives can be saved if early diagnosis and treatment are available worldwide. Type 1 diabetes isn\u2019t a death sentence, but where you live can make it one.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Global Burden of Type 1 Diabetes Is Not Shared Equally People with this autoimmune disease face much shorter life expectancies in lower-income nations. By Carin Leong edited by Kelso Harper This video is part of \u201cInnovations In: Type 1 Diabetes,\u201d an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Vertex. Carin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2193,14402,2850,337,1055,4259,13503],"class_list":{"0":"post-33645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-diabetes","9":"tag-dramatically","10":"tag-expectancy","11":"tag-life","12":"tag-nation","13":"tag-type","14":"tag-varies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n