title: Diabetes as a model for the disparate public response to acute versus chronic diseases.
abstract: The public health outcry toward infectious entities appears to dwarf chronic diseases such as diabetes. This disparity is particularly astonishing given the considerable prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes. Diseases associated with short-term morbidity and mortality therefore seem to garner attention and demand an immediate public health response, whereas chronic illnesses, which can be considerably more devastating in the longer term, receive relatively less notoriety. It should not, however, be misconstrued that one disease entity is more important than the other--it is critical that both acute and chronic entities are given balanced attention in the public health, governmental, and scientific realms. The current perspective reflects on the disparate public health purviews toward acute and chronic illnesses, describes why prevention is so difficult and challenging, and addresses what can be done to reverse this trend. If there is any hope of conquering the spiraling prediabetes and diabetes epidemics, the medical community must grapple with the complex issues herein raised.
authors.affiliation: NYU Langone Diabetes Prevention Program, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, NYU School of Medicine, 530 1st Avenue, Schwartz East, Suite 5E, New York, NY, 10016, USA. michael.bergman@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Medical Center, 630 West 168th St, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lonier
authors.affiliation: NYU Langone Diabetes Prevention Program, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, NYU School of Medicine, 530 1st Avenue, Schwartz East, Suite 5E, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fink
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001290:Attitude; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health
keywords: Communicable diseases; Diabetes; Diabetes prevention; Non-communicable diseases; Prediabetes; Public health