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Preventing diabetes mellitus in developing countries

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 8, pages 557–562 (2012)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 01 October 2012

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Abstract

By the year 2030, >70% of people living with T2DM will reside in developing countries, and primary prevention of T2DM should be an urgent priority for such regions. The disease predominantly affects working-age persons and has a devastating economic impact, compounded by the frequent occurrence and interaction of T2DM with infectious diseases (such as AIDS and tuberculosis). Evidence from landmark T2DM prevention trials indicates that lifestyle modification is more effective, cheaper and safer than medication and provides sustained benefits. Lifestyle modification is, therefore, the most promising approach to T2DM prevention in developing countries; however, programmes adapted to their specific needs are lacking. Low-cost strategies to identify at-risk individuals, followed by the implementation of group-based, inexpensive lifestyle interventions, seem to be the best options for resource-poor countries. However, widespread implementation of T2DM prevention in developing countries will require coordinated efforts throughout society, along with comprehensive government policies and novel funding sources.

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Change history

  • 01 October 2012

    In the version of this article initially published in print and online there was a mistake saying small-molecule agents were used in preclinical studies The sentence should have read "preclinical studies have shown that a few adenovirus-delivered transcription factors could induce exocrine pancreatic cells to transdifferentiate into insulin-producing cells.39" The error has been corrected for the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Acknowledgements

S. Dagogo-Jack's research is supported in part by grants from the NIH (DK67269, DK62203 and DK48411).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, 30322, GA, USA

    Justin B. Echouffo-Tcheugui

  2. Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 920 Madison Avenue, Memphis, 38163, Tennessee, USA

    Samuel Dagogo-Jack

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  1. Justin B. Echouffo-Tcheugui
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Both authors contributed equally to researching information, discussion of content, writing and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Samuel Dagogo-Jack.

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Echouffo-Tcheugui, J., Dagogo-Jack, S. Preventing diabetes mellitus in developing countries. Nat Rev Endocrinol 8, 557–562 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2012.46

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