众多研究表明,全球范围内各年龄组的糖尿病及其并发症发病率都正在上升。2012 年美国大约有 2910 万人(占成人的 9.3%)患有糖尿病,其中有 810 万人未诊断。[2]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014: estimates of diabetes and its burden in the United States. 2014. http://www.cdc.gov/ (last accessed 5 April 2016).http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf2015 年,全球有 4.15 亿成人患糖尿病,据预测到 2040 年估计有 6.42 亿人将患有糖尿病。[3]International Diabetes Federation. Diabetes atlas. 7th ed. 2015. http://www.diabetesatlas.org/ (last accessed 5 April 2016).http://www.diabetesatlas.org/据估计,2012 年美国在糖尿病上的花费为 2450 亿美元,糖尿病患者的平均医疗费用比均值高 2.3 倍。[2]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014: estimates of diabetes and its burden in the United States. 2014. http://www.cdc.gov/ (last accessed 5 April 2016).http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf2003-2006 年,在糖尿病成人患者中,心血管疾病导致的死亡数是未患糖尿病成人的 1.7 倍。[2]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014: estimates of diabetes and its burden in the United States. 2014. http://www.cdc.gov/ (last accessed 5 April 2016).http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf这个问题不再局限于西方国家。据报告,2011 年中国的糖尿病成人患者数量为世界最高(大约 9000 万),其次是印度(大约是 6100 万)和孟加拉国(大约 800 万)。[4]Akter S, Rahman MM, Abe SK, et al. Prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes and their risk factors among Bangladeshi adults: a nationwide survey. Bull World Health Organ. 2014;92:204-213, 213A.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=BLT.13.128371&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=enhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24700980?tool=bestpractice.com