Epidemic trend of diabetes in China: For the Xiaoren Pan Distinguished Research Award in AASD

Epidemiology is now well recognized as the foundation of public health. The Da Qing study in 1986 was the first milestone study to show that lifestyle intervention can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. The lead investigator of that study, Professor Xiaoren Pan, is regarded as the forerunner epidemiologist for diabetes in China and even in Asia. In 2006, study participants were followed up to assess the long‐term effects of the interventions after 20 years. As compared with the control group, those in the combined lifestyle intervention group had a 51% lower incidence of diabetes during the active intervention period and a 43% lower incidence over the 20‐year period, adjusted by age. Recently, the National Diabetes Prevalence Survey in China was carried out from 2007 to 2008. The data from that study showed that the prevalence of diabetes in Chinese adults was 9.7%, and the increased rate of diabetes prevalence in China exceeded the International Diabetes Federation estimation. Very recently, we have reported that acarbose is a viable choice for initial therapy in Chinese patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who have a lower body mass index and exaggerated postprandial glucose excursion compared with Caucasian patients. We are expecting more contributions from epidemiology to the study of diabetes.