China Medical News

At a seminar held in Beijing on Nov. 15^th, a senior medical official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the incidence rate of diabetes among adults in China's rural areas has increased from 1.8% in 2002 to 8.4% in 2010, while the rates for 2011 and 2012 were not available. The official added that the incidence rate in the countryside increased faster than in cities, though the overall incidence rate was still lower than that of cities, and that the rural population has become a priority in diabetes control and prevention. (Source: Xinhua)

The increasing number of diabetes patients in China was also reported on an article in the September 4th issue of JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association). The article was about a study conducted by Dr. Yu Xu, of the Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, and colleagues of the 2010 China Non-communicable Disease Surveillance Group to investigate the prevalence of diabetes and glycemic control in the Chinese adult population. The study was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 98,658 Chinese adults in 2010, with the definition of diabetes and pre-diabetes based on the 2010 American Diabetes Association criteria; whereas, a HbA1c level of <7.0% was considered adequate glycemic control. This study showed that the overall prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be 11.6% in the Chinese adult population, and also, the estimated prevalence of pre-diabetes was 50.1%. In addition, the authors also found that the proportion of patients with diabetes who were aware of their condition was 30.1%. Also, only 25.8% of overall patients with diabetes were treated for this condition, and only 39.7% of those treated had adequate glycemic control. The author wrote, “These data suggest that diabetes may have reached an alert level in the Chinese general population, with the potential for a major epidemic of diabetes-related complications, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease in China in the near future without an effective national intervention".