The incidence of type 2 diabetes in an Aboriginal community and prospective associations between clinical variables and diabetes were examined in the Sandy Lake Health and Diabetes Project, which followed 606 participants for 10 years. The 10-year incidence of diabetes was 17.5%. After adjustment for age and sex, elevated adiposity indices (including abdominal obesity), dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and hypertension at baseline were all associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes. Diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome using the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III criteria or the International Diabetes Federation clinical criteria was associated with incident diabetes after taking into account age and sex. Therefore, the presence of the metabolic syndrome may be useful in identifying individuals in Aboriginal communities at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Dr. Gerald M. Reaven from Stanford University wrote an editorial on the paper by Ley et al., pointing out that although abnormalities associated with the metabolic syndrome (or with insulin resistance) constitute a prediabetic state, it would have been interesting for the paper to have compared the diagnostic utility of the metabolic syndrome to that of its individual components.
Documentation centre