King H
P N G Med J. 1985 Dec;28(4):283-9.
The ethnic and geographic diversity to be found in Papua New Guinea provide unique opportunities for the study of the epidemiology of glucose intolerance and diabetes. Whereas coastal populations have been influenced by successive waves of migrants of Austronesian origin, the Papua New Guinea highlanders were not influenced genetically by these people, and now represent one of the few non-Austronesian populations in the Pacific. Early studies in Papua New Guinea suggested that diabetes was not uncommon in coastal communities. Austronesian populations in other regions of the Pacific are also susceptible to glucose intolerance. Of particular interest, however, were the results of a diabetes survey conducted in a highland population in 1983. No diabetic subjects were discovered among over 300 examined. Further studies have now been planned, which aim to determine whether the apparent resistance of Papua New Guinea highlanders to glucose intolerance is genetically determined, or whether modernization of lifestyle will lead to the emergence of diabetes as a health problem in this region, as it already is in other areas of the Pacific. The future studies have been carefully designed, so as to define the relative importance of genetic and environmental components in the variability of glucose tolerance.
巴布亚新几内亚存在的种族和地理多样性为研究葡萄糖不耐受和糖尿病的流行病学提供了独特的机会。沿海人口受到了来自南岛语系的 successive waves of migrants 的影响，而巴布亚新几内亚高地人在基因上并未受到这些人的影响，如今是太平洋地区为数不多的非南岛语系人群之一。巴布亚新几内亚早期的研究表明，糖尿病在沿海社区并不罕见。太平洋其他地区的南岛语系人群也易患葡萄糖不耐受。然而，特别令人感兴趣的是 1983 年在一个高地人群中进行的糖尿病调查结果。在接受检查的 300 多人中未发现糖尿病患者。现在已经计划开展进一步的研究，旨在确定巴布亚新几内亚高地人对葡萄糖不耐受的明显抵抗力是由基因决定的，还是生活方式的现代化会导致糖尿病在该地区成为一个健康问题，就像在太平洋其他地区已经出现的情况一样。未来的研究经过了精心设计，以便确定基因和环境因素在葡萄糖耐量变异性中的相对重要性。
