The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Taiwan

Currently, diabetes mellitus is the fifth leading cause of death in Taiwan. The trends of diabetes mortality is increasing steadily. Epidemiologic stu dies also showed increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus over the past f ew decades. The incidence of diabetes mellitus in Taiwan has only been stud ied in recent 10 years. The areas that have been included as study areas fo r diabetes incidence are Kin-Chen (Kinmen), Chu-Dung, Pu-Tzu, Pu-Li and Pu- Tai. The reported incidence rates ranged from 1.0 to 4.0% per year for peop le with varying degrees of baseline plasma glucose levels not reaching the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus according to the criteria of the World Healt h Organization. Age, baseline glucose level, and obesity are important pred ictors for the development of diabetes mellitus. In the Pu-Tai study, which was aimed at following a group of people who had been living in the hypere ndemic villages of blackfoot disease and had been exposed to arsenic from d rinking artesian well water, the incidence of diabetes mellitus was calcula ted to be 27.4 per 1000 person years. The incidence of diabetes mellitus in these arseniasis-hyperendemic villages correlated with age, body mass inde x and cumulative arsenic exposure. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. A ll rights reserved.