Status and prospects of the fight against diabetes

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus remains one of the important medical and social health problems of almost all countries of the world. The prevalence of diabetes in industrialized countries is 5-6% and has a tendency to increase. This is mainly due to the increase in patients suffering from non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, type II diabetes). So, according to S. R. Kahn (1995), in the United States about 6-7% of the total population are patients with NIDDM. Calculations showed that in the case of an increase in the average life expectancy of up to 80 years, the number of patients with NIDDM will exceed 17% of the total population.