Health

Diabetes behind 1 in 4 NYC hospital admissions

New York City hospitals are being weighed down by patients with deadly, obesity-related diabetes.

New data show that there were 232,254 hospitalizations of diabetic patients in 2011 — accounting for roughly one-fourth of all admissions.

That’s a hefty 41 percent increase since 2000, when there were 164,150 diabetes-linked hospital admissions, an analysis by the city Health Department found.

A dramatic rise in obesity — largely caused by a poor diet of fatty foods and sweet drinks — accounts for the surge in diabetes and hospital admissions, health officials said.

About 650,000 New Yorkers were diagnosed with diabetes in 2011, an increase of 200,000 from a decade ago. That’s more than one in 10 adults.

“New York City is experiencing an epidemic of diabetes that is driven by the city’s epidemic of obesity,” the Health Department said in a statement. “This has led to many more New Yorkers suffering the complications of diabetes, including amputations, vision loss, kidney failure and early death.

“Because diabetes is not curable, we can only turn this epidemic around by reversing our epidemic of obesity.”

People with diabetes often have high blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels and are twice as likely to die from heart disease than those who don’t have the malady, stats reveal. Lifestyle changes that lower blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels are the best ways to tame diabetes.

Thousands of New Yorkers also suffer kidney failure due to diabetes. In 2011, 5,458 diabetics were on dialysis — a 65 percent jump since 2000, when there were 3,314 cases.

The alarming rise in diabetes is one reason why Mayor Bloomberg has declared war against large sodas and fast food — even as his proposal to ban large sugary drinks is tied up in the courts.

Hizzoner was successful in outlawing the use of trans fats from restaurant meals and bakeries and requiring fast-food chain outlets to post calories counts for food items.