Published: March 25, 2010
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HANOI — After working overtime to catch up to the West, China now faces a new problem: the world’s biggest diabetes epidemic.
One in 10 Chinese adults already have the disease and an additional 16 percent are on the verge of developing it, according to a new study. The finding nearly equals the U.S. rate of 11 percent and surpasses other Western nations, including Germany and Canada.
The survey results, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found much higher rates of diabetes than previous studies, largely because of more rigorous testing measures. With 92 million diabetics, China is now home to the most cases worldwide, overtaking India.
“The change is happening very rapidly both in terms of their economy and in terms of their health effects,” said David Whiting, an epidemiologist at the International Diabetes Federation, who was not involved in the study. “The rate of increase is much faster than we’ve seen in Europe and in the U.S.”
Chronic ailments like high blood pressure and heart disease have been steadily climbing in rapidly developing countries like China, where people are moving out of farms and into cities, where they have more sedentary lifestyles.
Greater wealth has led to sweeping diet changes and increasing obesity rates, a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases among adults.
“As people eat more high-calorie and processed foods combined with less exercise, we see an increase of diabetes patients,” said Huang Jun, a cardiovascular professor at the Jiangsu People’s Hospital in Nanjing, who did not participate in the study.
Previous studies over three decades have shown a gradual climb in China’s diabetes rates. The sharp rise in the latest study, conducted from 2007 to 2008, is largely explained by more rigorous testing methods, said the lead author, Dr. Wenying Yang from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
Earlier nationwide studies relied only on one blood sugar tolerance test, while this survey of nearly 50,000 people caught many more cases by checking levels again two hours later, an approach recommended by the World Health Organization.
The study did have some limitations, sampling more women and city residents — 152 urban districts compared with 112 rural villages. Dr. Yang said she was alarmed by the findings, and the Chinese Ministry of Health has been alerted. She said there were plans to promote a national prevention strategy.
Diabetes occurs when the body is unable to regulate blood sugar. It is a major risk factor for heart disease, which is the biggest killer in China.
“I don’t think it’s unique to China, but it’s certainly a concern that the rates are high,” said Colin Bell, a chronic disease expert at the W.H.O.’s regional office in Manila. “It emphasizes the need for strong prevention and treatment programs.”
The Asia-Pacific region was highlighted in another study last year estimating that it would be home to more than 60 percent of the 380 million diabetes cases globally by 2025.
The Associated Press
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