The Concept of CMR

Prevalence of diabetes

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Table: Regional estimates for diabetes 20-79 age group, 2003 and 2025

Table: Regional estimates for diabetes 20-79 age group, 2003 and 2025

Diabetes is now considered to be the 5th leading cause of death worldwide after communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and injuries (26). Similar to those for obesity, risk factors for type 2 diabetes include age, family history of type 2 diabetes (or obesity), impaired glucose metabolism, physical inactivity, and ethnicity. Obesity is also a major modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes (3). It has been proposed that between 60% and 90% of type 2 diabetes cases are due to excess body weight (27). Worldwide, 177 million individuals were considered to be diabetic in 2000 and some 90-95% of them had type 2 diabetes (28). According to the CDC, nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes. The CDC has also reported that among those 20 and over, 8.7% of non-Hispanic whites, 13.3% of non-Hispanic blacks, and 9.5% of Hispanic/Latino Americans have diabetes. Non-Hispanic blacks are 1.8 times more likely to develop diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. It has been estimated that, in 2000, excess mortality due to diabetes accounted for over 8% of deaths in Western societies such as the U.S. and Canada and for 2-3% of deaths in poorer countries (26). Although diabetes rates are lower in developing countries, rates are shooting up in the Middle East, Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and China, especially in urban areas (Table). To illustrate diabetes’ global reach and the continuing type 2 diabetes epidemic, Figure 2 depicts the prevalence of diabetes in many parts of the world along with projected percent changes up to the year 2030 as estimated by Wild et al. (29). For example, the number of diabetic individuals in India is expected to increase threefold between 2000 and 2030.

Reference

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3. Haffner SM. Epidemiology of type 2 diabetes: risk factors. Diabetes Care 1998; 21 Suppl 3: C3-6.

26. Roglic G, Unwin N, Bennett PH, et al. The burden of mortality attributable to diabetes: realistic estimates for the year 2000. Diabetes Care 2005; 28: 2130-5.

27. Stumvoll M, Goldstein BJ and van Haeften TW. Type 2 diabetes: principles of pathogenesis and therapy. Lancet 2005; 365: 1333-46.

28. Amos AF, McCarty DJ and Zimmet P. The rising global burden of diabetes and its complications: estimates and projections to the year 2010. Diabet Med 1997; 14 Suppl 5: S1-85.

29. Wild S, Roglic G, Green A, et al. Global prevalence of diabetes: estimates for the year 2000 and projections for 2030. Diabetes Care 2004; 27: 1047-53.

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