Health & Medicine
Over Half of Residents in China are Prediabetic
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Sep 04, 2013 11:47 AM EDT
Statistics show that the percentage of adults in China who now have diabetes are even higher than those in the United States as of 2010. In fact, a recent report shows that approximately 12 percent are now suffering from the disease which researchers believe can largely be due to economic prosperity, according to the AFP.
"The prevalence of diabetes has increased significantly in recent decades," notes the study, showing that only 30 percent of China's population were even aware that they were harboring diabetic conditions. "These data suggest that diabetes may have reached an alert level in the Chinese general population, with the potential for a major epidemic of diabetes-related complications, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease in China in the near future without an effective national intervention."
The study shows that diabetes prevalence was 11.6 percent among men and women in China, two-thirds of diabetes cases were undiagnosed, only 25.8 percent of diabetics were receiving treatment, for those receiving treatment, less than 40 percent had adequate glycemic control and over half of Chinese adults were prediabetic.
As prediabetes is a potentially reversible condition, blood sugar levels are still high enough to be classified as diabetes at this point. Gestational diabetes, which often occurs during pregnancy, can also often resolve itself after birth. However, it can turn into a more serious condition.
The Mayo Clinic notes that Diabetes Mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how the body processes blood glucose. This is vital to our health as it becomes an important source of energy for the cells that create and make up our muscles and tissues. It's also a source of fuel for our brain.
Yet diabetes means there is too much glucose in our blood that can create serious health problems. Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
"These data suggest that diabetes may have reached an alert level in the Chinese general population, with the potential for a major epidemic of diabetes-related complications, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease in China in the near future without an effective national intervention," the authors write, via the study.
This study examined the increase in diabetes prevalence that was less than 1 percent in the Chinese population back in 1980 and only 5.5 percent from 2000-2001.
The findings by Dr. Xu and colleagues encompass a national sample of 98,658 Chinese adults, measuring plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c levels over a 10-hour overnight fasting period among all study participants. A 2-hour oral glucose-tolerance test was also conducted with participants who self-reported their history of diagnosed diabetes.
More information regarding the study can be found via the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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First Posted: Sep 04, 2013 11:47 AM EDT
Statistics show that the percentage of adults in China who now have diabetes are even higher than those in the United States as of 2010. In fact, a recent report shows that approximately 12 percent are now suffering from the disease which researchers believe can largely be due to economic prosperity, according to the AFP.
"The prevalence of diabetes has increased significantly in recent decades," notes the study, showing that only 30 percent of China's population were even aware that they were harboring diabetic conditions. "These data suggest that diabetes may have reached an alert level in the Chinese general population, with the potential for a major epidemic of diabetes-related complications, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease in China in the near future without an effective national intervention."
The study shows that diabetes prevalence was 11.6 percent among men and women in China, two-thirds of diabetes cases were undiagnosed, only 25.8 percent of diabetics were receiving treatment, for those receiving treatment, less than 40 percent had adequate glycemic control and over half of Chinese adults were prediabetic.
As prediabetes is a potentially reversible condition, blood sugar levels are still high enough to be classified as diabetes at this point. Gestational diabetes, which often occurs during pregnancy, can also often resolve itself after birth. However, it can turn into a more serious condition.
The Mayo Clinic notes that Diabetes Mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how the body processes blood glucose. This is vital to our health as it becomes an important source of energy for the cells that create and make up our muscles and tissues. It's also a source of fuel for our brain.
Yet diabetes means there is too much glucose in our blood that can create serious health problems. Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
"These data suggest that diabetes may have reached an alert level in the Chinese general population, with the potential for a major epidemic of diabetes-related complications, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease in China in the near future without an effective national intervention," the authors write, via the study.
This study examined the increase in diabetes prevalence that was less than 1 percent in the Chinese population back in 1980 and only 5.5 percent from 2000-2001.
The findings by Dr. Xu and colleagues encompass a national sample of 98,658 Chinese adults, measuring plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c levels over a 10-hour overnight fasting period among all study participants. A 2-hour oral glucose-tolerance test was also conducted with participants who self-reported their history of diagnosed diabetes.
More information regarding the study can be found via the Journal of the American Medical Association.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone