Epidemiology of diabetes mellitus in the Asia-Pacific region.

The complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the causation of diabetes mellitus is well illustrated by the epidemiology of diabetes in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the Chinese, the prevalence of diabetes is uniformly higher among Chinese living outside China than in the Chinese in The People's Republic of China. Similarly among the Indians, the prevalence of diabetes is universally higher in those who have settled outside India than in Indians in India. In the Pacific populations, diabetes is much commoner among the Nauruans and Fiji Indians. Throughout the Asia-Pacific countries, economic progress and urbanisation have a uniformly deleterious effect on diabetes. A better understanding of the hereditary and environmental factors in the causation of diabetes is required to halt and reverse the rising prevalence of diabetes in the Asia-Pacific region.