Diabetes and disability

Diabetes anddisability: impairments, activity limitations, participation restrictions andcomorbidities is an AIHW report using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2009. People with diabetes were twice as likely to have a disability (39% compared with 17%) and almost 3 times as likely to have a severe or profound limitation (14% compared with 5%) than people without diabetes. Among working-age people with diabetes and disability, 40% said they were permanently unable to work compared with 20% of people with a disability who did not have diabetes. People with diabetes reported higher rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, depression, vision loss and kidney related disorders than people without diabetes.