由来自杜兰大学的研究员人和他们的中国同事在中国进行的一项基于大规模人群的糖尿病研究得出结论说，这种疾病在中国成年人群中已经达到了流行的比例。这项研究估计9240万20岁或20岁以上的成年人（人口的9.7%）有糖尿病，而1482万成年人（15.5%）有前驱糖尿病，后者是出现显性糖尿病和心血管疾病的一个关键的风险因素。这些结果发表在了3月25日出版的《新英格兰医学杂志》上。
该研究是建立最近在中国进行的几项大型实验的基础上的，这些实验记载了人群中糖尿病的迅速增加。如今这项研究对来自中国的14个省和直辖市的20岁或20岁以上的46239位成年人进行了口服葡萄糖耐受试验，从而发现此前未被诊断出的糖尿病病例。此前已经被诊断出糖尿病的参与者是通过该研究的数据收集者的提问确定的。
随着近年来中国经济的迅速发展，心血管疾病已经成为了该国的主要死因。糖尿病是心血管疾病的一个主要风险因素，而且正如这项研究所表明的，中国糖尿病的流行程度很高而且正在增加。糖尿病增加了心血管疾病并发症和早死的风险，而且为社会导致了很大的经济负担。
这组科学家指出，中国城市居民具有比农村居民更高的糖尿病发病率，这个结果符合在全世界发展中国家观察到的现象。“城市化与导致不活动、不健康饮食以及肥胖的生活方式的变化有关联，这些都是出现糖尿病的贡献因素，”该研究的资深作者、杜兰大学公共卫生和热带医学院流行病学系Joseph S. Copes, M.D.讲席教授 Jiang He说。
这组科学家说，由于中国的人口众多，它可能比任何其他国家面临更大的糖尿病相关负担。尤其令人警觉的是大多数糖尿病病例（60.7%）未被诊断和治疗。这组科学家得出结论说，糖尿病及其后果已经成为了中国的一个重大公共卫生危机，他们建议中国迅速制定和实施一般人群的预防、诊断和治疗糖尿病的国家战略。
Prevalence of Diabetes among Men and Women in China
ABSTRACT
Background Because of the rapid change in lifestyle in China, there is concern that diabetes may become epidemic. We conducted a national study from June 2007 through May 2008 to estimate the prevalence of diabetes among Chinese adults.
Methods A nationally representative sample of 46,239 adults, 20 years of age or older, from 14 provinces and municipalities participated in the study. After an overnight fast, participants underwent an oral glucose-tolerance test, and fasting and 2-hour glucose levels were measured to identify undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes (i.e., impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance). Previously diagnosed diabetes was determined on the basis of self-report.
Results The age-standardized prevalences of total diabetes (which included both previously diagnosed diabetes and previously undiagnosed diabetes) and prediabetes were 9.7% (10.6% among men and 8.8% among women) and 15.5% (16.1% among men and 14.9% among women), respectively, accounting for 92.4 million adults with diabetes (50.2 million men and 42.2 million women) and 148.2 million adults with prediabetes (76.1 million men and 72.1 million women). The prevalence of diabetes increased with increasing age (3.2%, 11.5%, and 20.4% among persons who were 20 to 39, 40 to 59, and 60 years of age, respectively) and with increasing weight (4.5%, 7.6%, 12.8%, and 18.5% among persons with a body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters] of <18.5, 18.5 to 24.9, 25.0 to 29.9, and 30.0, respectively). The prevalence of diabetes was higher among urban residents than among rural residents (11.4% vs. 8.2%). The prevalence of isolated impaired glucose tolerance was higher than that of isolated impaired fasting glucose (11.0% vs. 3.2% among men and 10.9% vs. 2.2% among women).
Conclusions These results indicate that diabetes has become a major public health problem in China and that strategies aimed at the prevention and treatment of diabetes are needed.
