Understanding healthy and active ageing
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Policy recommendations suggest that more focus on reducing childhood obesity at pre-school age reduces the incidence of obesity in later life and the associated risks of type 2 diabetes.
DynaHEALTH was a European Horizon 2020 funded research project, running from April 2015 to March 2019, focused on healthy and active ageing through reducing the risks of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
All published work from the DynaHEALTH project can be found on our Publications Map. This shows publications mapped across the life-course and can be filtered based on categories such as obesity, diabetes or genetics.
Prevalence of diabetes in European region will rise further by 2045
According to the International Diabetes Federation, in the Europe region 66 million adults are estimated to have diabetes and this figure is predicted to rise to 81 million by 2045. For 2017, this equates to 1 in 11 adults with diabetes.
There were estimated to be approximately 690,000 deaths due to diabetes in 2017.
1 in 6 births are affected by hyperglycaemia in pregnancy.
Over one third of diabetes cases have not been diagnosed and are at a higher risk of developing harmful and costly complications.
In 2016 it is estimated that over 60% of adults in the WHO European Region were overweight, and 27% of women and 23% of men were obese*
Compared with a healthy weight man, an obese man is: five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes; three times more likely to develop cancer of the colon; more than two and a half times more likely to develop high blood pressure – a major risk factor for stroke and heart disease.
An obese woman, compared with a healthy weight woman, is: almost 13 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes; more than four times more likely to develop high blood pressure; more than three times more likely to have a heart attack.**
* World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Health Observatory data repository.
** Professor Terence Stephenson in Measuring Up, a 2013 report on the nation’s obesity crisis by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC).
Obesity is estimated to cost Europe 70 billion euros annually in healthcare costs and lost productivity
The OECD estimates that average healthcare expenditure for an obese person is 25% higher than for someone of normal weight.
The OECD also quote a recent German study which showed, for instance, that overweight and obese children have higher healthcare costs than other children at the same age: costs are €62 higher for obese children per year, and €27 higher for overweight children, in comparison to a child with a healthy weight.
By 2070, life expectancy at birth for females is expected to reach age 90 and for men age 86
We are all living longer. In the EU, life expectancy at birth for males is expected to increase by 7.8 years over the projection period, from 78.3 in 2016 to 86.1 in 2070.
For females, life expectancy at birth is projected to increase by 6.6 years for females, from 83.7 in 2013 to 90.3 in 2070.
