Epidemiology of type 2 diabetes in Taiwan.
In the face of the growing worldwide prevalence of type 2 diabetes, effective methods of preventing further increases in prevalence are needed. In this paper, we review the community-based epidemiologic studies of diabetes in Taiwan published during the last decade, and look at the effectiveness of a two-stage screening protocol for identifying subjects at risk for progression to type 2 diabetes. The results of these studies indicate that the age-adjusted prevalence rate of undiagnosed diabetes in Taiwan is stable, at around 4.0%, while the annual incidence rate is about 1.8%. The results of several studies strongly suggest that a two-step screening strategy, in which only subjects with a fasting plasma glucose level of 5.6-7.8 mmol/l receive the oral glucose tolerance test, may be an effective means of identifying diabetics and persons at high risk for progression to type 2 diabetes and, ultimately, slowing the increase in the prevalence of this disease.
Chou
P
P
Community Medicine Research Center and Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Shih-Pai, Taipei 112, Taiwan, ROC. pschou@ym.edu.tw
Li
C L
CL
Tsai
S T
ST
D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan