The Diabetes Pandemic: Looking for the Silver Lining
- K.M. Venkat Narayan, MD, MPH, FRCP, FACP
Diabetes is an American epidemic. One in three Americans born in 2000 is projected to develop diabetes.1 Diabetes is a pandemic. In 2003, 194 million people worldwide, ranging in age from 20 to 79 years, had diabetes. By 2025, this number is projected to increase by 72% to 333 million, and nearly 80% of these cases will be in the poorer industrializing countries.2
All of this sounds frightening and devastating. But is there a silver lining to this grey and menacing diabetes cloud?
We need to look at the scientific advances—just in the past decade—in the prevention of diabetes and its complications. The rate …
