The Asian Diabetes Epidemic
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 20.8 million people (7 percent of the population) have diabetes in the United States. But diabetes is also spreading more rapidly in Asia than anywhere else in the world. The World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) predict that the diabetes rate in Asia is expected to increase to 160million by 2025, with India and China together accounting for almost 120 million people.
As noted by the IDF, in 2003, the top five countries with largest number of people with diabetes were as follows:
|
Top 5 Countries with largest number of People affected by Diabetes (in 2003)† |
|
Countries |
Number of People (million) |
|
India |
35.5 |
|
China |
23.8 |
|
United States of America |
16.0 |
|
Russia |
9.7 |
|
Japan |
6.7 |
† http://www.idf.org/
Although the prevalence of diabetes in Asian Americans varies within subgroups, the average prevalence is about 10%.
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