Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges facing Northern Ireland, a report published today claimed.
The report, produced by leading health charity Diabetes UK revealed approximately 10 per cent of general NHS spending goes on diabetes and its complications.
For Northern Ireland that equates to around £400 million (€514 million) a year, the equivalent of over £1 million (€1.3 million) a day.
The report also revealed that one in ten people in hospital have diabetes and 60 per cent of inpatients with diabetes have been admitted as emergencies.
There are some 57,000 people in Northern Ireland who have been diagnosed with the condition - but the real total is feared to be much higher, with thousands unaware they have diabetes.
Diabetes UK Northern Ireland director Iain Foster said diabetes leads to heart disease, stroke, amputations, kidney failure and blindness and causes more deaths than breast and prostate cancer combined.
"Type 2 diabetes can remain undetected for ten years or more before someone is diagnosed," he said. "It really is a silent assassin - more than 500,000 people have the condition but do not even know it and by the time they are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 50 per cent of people are found to have started developing complications."
Diabetes UK is launching the 'Silent Assassin' campaign to highlight that diabetes is a serious condition and improve awareness of its devastating complications.
The campaign encourages people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes to make urgent changes in their lifestyle.
The charity said it wants to ensure that people with Type 1 diabetes or with Type 2 diabetes have access to appropriate care, support and education to help them manage their condition effectively and avoid developing the life-shattering complications of diabetes.
PA