Incidence of Diabetes Mellitus

Dr.C.J.George
18 Jan 2021

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder, and 90% of diabetic disorder belongs to type 2 diabetes. If the fasting blood sugar is above 126 mg/dl/ 7 millimol per litre or the glycated haemoglobin(HbA1c) is more than 48 millimol, one is technically classed as a diabetic patient. The term 'glycated' means attachment of a sugar to a protein or lipid. This gives the average of sugar in the haemoglobin for two months, therefore one need not fast for twelve hours.

The incidence of Type 2 diabetes is increasing fast because of lifestyle changes which include diet, sedentary work and lack of exercise.Type 2 diabetes is not just due to the lack of insulin produced by the beta cells of islets of Langerhans of pancreas, but it is due to the insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. (Insulin resistance means, the effect of insulin on the receptors will be reduced, and there will be antibodies to neutralise the effect of insulin).During the past four decades, the incidence of overweight and obesity has increased, so is the incidence of type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide.

The country with the highest diabetic population is China where the incidence is 11% followed by India at 9.5%.The incidence of diabetes has tripled in China and doubled in India in fewer than twenty years.Population wise the United States ranks third and the prevalence rate is 11%. A lot of developed countries like Singapore, Portugal and Malta have 10% incidence of Diabetes.

There is a clear genetic predisposition to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (T2D).The genes of diabetes are associated with that of dementia. Also it is established that diabetes can develop due to mutation of mitochondrial DNA. In the Pacific islands, over 20% people suffer from diabetes, and there is a strong predilection to inheritance.

In this blog, I have described only about the prevalence of diabetes. Genetics is something one cannot control, but what people can control are their lifestyle,diet and weight. The metabolic effect of diabetes is a wide area, which will be addressed in future blogs.

Dr.C.J.George

21st December 2020

Dr.C.J.George

This blog is about my experience as a doctor working in various countries in different clinical set up. This experience spans through 45 years, in which I acquired a lot of favourable contacts and unfavourable encounters. I shall dig deep into them and make it interesting to the readers. Unlike others in the profession, I worked as a community medical officer in a remote areas, prison medical officer, benefit service medical officer, in cardiac surgery in prestigious institutions and as a private doctor. I was managing my own businesses, and real estate in three continents. I hope the information I impart will be valuable to the like minded readers.