Epidemic obesity and type 2 diabetes in Asia.
The proportions of people with type 2 diabetes and obesity have increased throughout Asia, and the rate of increase shows no sign of slowing. People in Asia tend to develop diabetes with a lesser degree of obesity at younger ages, suffer longer with complications of diabetes, and die sooner than people in other regions. Childhood obesity has increased substantially and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has now reached epidemic levels in Asia. The health consequences of this epidemic threaten to overwhelm health-care systems in the region. Urgent action is needed, and advocacy for lifestyle changes is the first step. Countries should review and implement interventions, and take a comprehensive and integrated public-health approach. At the level of primary prevention, such programmes can be linked to other non-communicable disease prevention programmes that target lifestyle-related issues. The cost of inaction is clear and unacceptable.
Yoon
Kun-Ho
KH
Divison of Endocrinology and Metabolism, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea. yoonk@catholic.ac.kr
Lee
Jin-Hee
JH
Kim
Ji-Won
JW
Cho
Jae Hyoung
JH
Choi
Yoon-Hee
YH
Ko
Seung-Hyun
SH
Zimmet
Paul
P
Son
Ho-Young
HY
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution