Diabetes

There are two types of diabetes affecting Australian males, those being type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 accounts for 10% of all diabetes in Australia while Type 2 accounts for a larger 85%. Living with diabetes comes with a number of health complications and risks, including blindness, amputations, heart disease and kidney disease [1]. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [2], 6.1% of Australian men were reported as having type 2 diabetes in 2017-18. Additionally, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was approximately twice as high for those living in low-socioeconomic areas compared to those living in high-socioeconomic areas.

The risk factors associated with diabetes vary between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Common risk factors for type 1 diabetes include biological risk factors such as family history, age and ethnicity [3] [4]. Common risk factors for type 2 diabetes also include biological risk factors such as family history, age and ethnicity, but also include behavioural risk factors such as poor diet, insufficient physical activity and biomedical risk factors such as overweight and obesity [3] [4].