Linong Ji

BACKGROUND: Because of the rapid change in lifestyle in China, there is concern that diabetes may become epidemic. We conducted a national study from June 2007 through May 2008 to estimate the prevalence of diabetes among Chinese adults. METHODS: A nationally representative sample of 46,239 adults, 20 years of age or older, from 14 provinces and municipalities participated in the study. After an overnight fast, participants underwent an oral glucose-tolerance test, and fasting and 2-hour glucose levels were measured to identify undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes (i.e., impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance). Previously diagnosed diabetes was determined on the basis of self-report. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalences of total diabetes (which included both previously diagnosed diabetes and previously undiagnosed diabetes) and prediabetes were 9.7% (10.6% among men and 8.8% among women) and 15.5% (16.1% among men and 14.9% among women), respectively, accounting for 92.4 million adults with diabetes (50.2 million men and 42.2 million women) and 148.2 million adults with prediabetes (76.1 million men and 72.1 million women). The prevalence of diabetes increased with increasing age (3.2%, 11.5%, and 20.4% among persons who were 20 to 39, 40 to 59, and > or = 60 years of age, respectively) and with increasing weight (4.5%, 7.6%, 12.8%, and 18.5% among persons with a body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters] of < 18.5, 18.5 to 24.9, 25.0 to 29.9, and > or = 30.0, respectively). The prevalence of diabetes was higher among urban residents than among rural residents (11.4% vs. 8.2%). The prevalence of isolated impaired glucose tolerance was higher than that of isolated impaired fasting glucose (11.0% vs. 3.2% among men and 10.9% vs. 2.2% among women). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that diabetes has become a major public health problem in China and that strategies aimed at the prevention and treatment of diabetes are needed.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of type 1 diabetes in all age groups in China during 2010-13. DESIGN: Population based, registry study using data from multiple independent sources. SETTING: National registration system in all 505 hospitals providing diabetes care, and communities of patients with diabetes in 13 areas across China, covering more than 133 million person years at risk, approximately 10% of the whole population. PARTICIPANTS: 5018 people of all ages with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and resident in the study areas from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence of type 1 diabetes per 100 000 person years by age, sex, and study area. Type 1 diabetes was doctor diagnosed and further validated by onsite follow-up. Completeness of case ascertainment was assessed using the capture mark recapture method. RESULTS: 5018 cases of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes were ascertained: 1239 participants were aged <15 years, 1799 were aged 15-29 years, and 1980 were aged ≥30 years. The proportion of new onset cases in participants aged ≥20 years was 65.3%. The estimated incidence of type 1 diabetes per 100 000 persons years for all ages in China was 1.01 (95% confidence interval 0.18 to 1.84). Incidence per 100 000 persons years by age group was 1.93 (0.83 to 3.03) for 0-14 years, 1.28 (0.45 to 2.11) for 15-29 years, and 0.69 (0.00 to 1.51) for ≥30 years, with a peak in age group 10-14 years. The incidence in under 15s was positively correlated with latitude (r=0.88, P<0.001), although this association was not observed in age groups 15-29 years or ≥30 years. CONCLUSION: Most cases of new onset type 1 diabetes in China occurred among adults. The incidence of type 1 diabetes in Chinese children was among the lowest reported in the study.

Many primary care professionals manage injection or infusion therapies in patients with diabetes. Few published guidelines have been available to help such professionals and their patients manage these therapies. Herein, we present new, practical, and comprehensive recommendations for diabetes injections and infusions. These recommendations were informed by a large international survey of current practice and were written and vetted by 183 diabetes experts from 54 countries at the Forum for Injection Technique and Therapy: Expert Recommendations (FITTER) workshop held in Rome, Italy, in 2015. Recommendations are organized around the themes of anatomy, physiology, pathology, psychology, and technology. Key among the recommendations are that the shortest needles (currently the 4-mm pen and 6-mm syringe needles) are safe, effective, and less painful and should be the first-line choice in all patient categories; intramuscular injections should be avoided, especially with long-acting insulins, because severe hypoglycemia may result; lipohypertrophy is a frequent complication of therapy that distorts insulin absorption, and, therefore, injections and infusions should not be given into these lesions and correct site rotation will help prevent them; effective long-term therapy with insulin is critically dependent on addressing psychological hurdles upstream, even before insulin has been started; inappropriate disposal of used sharps poses a risk of infection with blood-borne pathogens; and mitigation is possible with proper training, effective disposal strategies, and the use of safety devices. Adherence to these new recommendations should lead to more effective therapies, improved outcomes, and lower costs for patients with diabetes.