Abstract
AimsThe recent and ongoing worldwide expansion in prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) is a considerable risk to individuals, health systems and economies. The increase in prevalence has been particularly marked in the states of the Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), and these trends are set to continue. We aimed to systematically review the current prevalence of T2DM within these states, and also within particular sub-populations.MethodsWe identified 27 published studies for review. Studies were identified by systematic database searches. Medline and Embase were searched using terms such as diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent, hyperglycemia, prevalence, epidemiology and Gulf States. Our search also included scanning reference lists, contacting experts and hand-searching key journals. Studies were judged against pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and where suitable for inclusion, data extraction and quality assessment was achieved using a specifically-designed tool. All studies where prevalence of diabetes was investigated were eligible for inclusion. The inclusion criteria required that the study population be of a GCC country, but otherwise all ages, sexes and ethnicities were included, resident and migrant populations, urban and rural, of all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. No limitations on publication type, publication status, study design or language of publication were imposed. However, we did not include secondary reports of data, such as review articles without novel data synthesis.ConclusionsThe prevalence ofT2DM is an increasing problem for all GCC states. They may therefore benefit to a relatively high degree from co-ordinated implementation of broadly consistent management strategies. Further study of prevalence in children and in national versus expatriate populations would also be useful.
Highlights
The World Economic Forum describes chronic diseases as one of the ‘top 6’ Global Risks [1] They carry enormous levels of morbidity and have become major causes of mortality
Over 90% of cases of diabetes mellitus are of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) [3], a form of diabetes characterised by insulin resistance with a relative or real insulin deficiency
These trends pose a particular risk to low- and middle- income countries, where most cases of diabetes and deaths from diabetes occur [5]; where a greater proportion of individuals affected by T2DM are of working age [6]; where changing demographics and lifestyles will lead to the greatest increases in prevalence; interventions are likely to be less widely available; and individuals generally pay a larger share of their health care costs
Summary
The World Economic Forum describes chronic diseases as one of the ‘top 6’ Global Risks [1] They carry enormous levels of morbidity and have become major causes of mortality. Over the past 3–4 decades there has been a global expansion in the prevalence of T2DM, associated with population growth, ageing, urbanisation and lifestyle changes [4,5]. These trends pose a particular risk to low- and middle- income countries, where most cases of diabetes and deaths from diabetes occur [5]; where a greater proportion of individuals affected by T2DM are of working age [6]; where changing demographics and lifestyles will lead to the greatest increases in prevalence; interventions are likely to be less widely available; and individuals generally pay a larger share of their health care costs
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