Type 2 Diabetes

Epidemiology. T2D is the most common form of the disease, accounting for approximately 90% of all affected individuals. A diagnosis of T2D is made if a fasting plasma glucose concentration is > 7.0 mmol/L (> 126 mg/dl) or plasma glucose 2 hours after a standard glucose challenge is > 11.1 mmol/L (> 200 mg/dl) (WHO, 1999)

T2D is caused by relative impaired insulin secretion and peripheral insulin resistance. Typically, T2D is managed with diet, exercise, oral hypoglycemic agents and sometimes exogenous insulin. However, it is associated with the same long-term complications as T1D.

The highest rates of T2D are found among Native Americans, particularly the Pima Indians who reside in Arizona in the US, and in natives of the South Pacific islands, such as Nauru (Wild et al., 2004). T2D is also known to be more predominant in Hispanic and African American populations than in Caucasians. In 2000, it is estimated that 171 million people (2.8% of the worlds population) had diabetes and that by 2030 this number will be 366 million (4.4% of the world's population).

http://www.who.int/genomics/about/Diabetis-fin.pdf