Diabetes in adults is now a Third World problem. World Health Organization Ad Hoc Diabetes Reporting Group

Since 1988, the World Health Organization has been collecting standardized information on the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance in adult communities worldwide. Within the age range 30 to 64 years, diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance were found to be absent or rare in some traditional communities in Melanesia, East Africa, and South America. In communities of European origin, the prevalences of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance were in the range of 3% to 10% and 3% to 15%, respectively, but migrant Indian, Chinese, and Hispanic American groups were at higher risk (15% to 20%). The highest risk was found among the Pima Indians of Arizona and the urbanized Micronesians of Nauru, where up to half of the population aged 30 to 64 years had diabetes. The prevalence of total glucose intolerance (diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance combined) was greater than 10% in almost all populations, and was within the 11% to 20% range for European and US white populations. However, the prevalence of total glucose intolerance reached almost 30% in Arab Omanis and US blacks and affected one third of all adult Chinese Mauritians, migrant Indians, urban Micronesians, and lower-income urban US Hispanics. In Nauruans and Pima Indians, approximately two thirds of all adults aged 30 to 64 years were affected. These results lead to three important conclusions. (1) An apparent epidemic of diabetes has occurred--or is occurring--in adults through the world. (2) This trend appears to be strongly related to life-style and socioeconomic change.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)