Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common in youth. Researchers studying 5,274 Pima Indian children from 1967 to 1996 found that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in girls ages 10 to 14 increased from 0.72 percent in the period 1967 to 1976 to 2.88 percent in the period 1987 to 1996. Reports include an increasing incidence in First Nation populations in Canada.
Studies of the Pimas suggest a genetic link to insulin production and resistance.
Although the specific genes responsible for the inheritance of type 2 diabetes have not been located, NIDDK scientists studying the Pima Indians have identified a gene called FABP2 that may play a role in insulin resistance. More recent studies have shown that a variant in the PPPIR3 gene that is more common in Pimas than Caucasians is associated with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
However, again, envirommental and lifestyle differences are likely to largely explain the high rate of the disease among a minority group. African-Americans and Indians are the poorest of Americans and most likely to be in bad health. Among the impacts of their poverty is lack of access to medical care that might prevent development of diabetes or other diseases.
The connection of diabetes to non-whites does not stop with people of West African and Indian descent. Asians, including Asian Americans, have the fastest growing rate of the disease in the world.
The incidence of diabetes in Asians and Pacific Islanders is growing at an alarming rate with 90-95% being type 2 diabetes. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the number of individuals affected by diabetes mellitus in 1995 had increased to 135 million from the 1985 estimate of 30 million, and it is projected that 300 million people will be affected by 2025. Approximately half of this population will be Asians and Pacific Islanders. China is predicted to have the highest rise in prevalence rate (68%) followed closely by India (59%) and other Asian countries and Pacific Islands (41%).
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1 - Inderpreet Singh
Diabetes Mellitus