Diabetes Type II

Diabetes mellitus is being called an epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and 90 percent of the more than 170 million cases of diabetes worldwide are type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), formerly called non-insulin–dependent or adult-onset diabetes. In contrast to type 1 diabetes, the T2DM epidemic has occurred concomitantly with the obesity epidemic, more prevalent in, but not limited to, the developed world. Although the number of diabetics in the United States more than doubled from 5.8 to 14.7 million people from 1980 to 2004, India and China currently have the most diabetics of any country. Wild and colleagues estimated that the global prevalence of diabetes will increase 39 percent from 4.6 percent in 2000 to 6.4 percent in 2030.

Although type 1 diabetes is classically considered to be the diabetes of childhood, the prevalence of T2DM in children and adolescents has recently been increasing as these age groups are attaining a higher body mass index (BMI). Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and WHO estimates that nine percent of deaths worldwide are attributable to the disease. Its adverse health consequences, including heart disease, blindness, limb amputation, and kidney disease, represent a tremendous burden to healthcare systems. Having diabetes increases an individual's healthcare costs two to three times, much of which is due to increased hospitalizations. More than seven percent of Americans have diagnosed diabetes, but the disease and its complications account for almost 14 percent of American healthcare expenditures. Moreover, the American Diabetic Association (ADA) estimated that the direct and indirect expenditures of diabetes, including medical costs, lost workdays, disabilities, and deaths, totaled $132 billion in the United States in 2002.