Ethnicity and its implications in diabetes management

It is not news to readers of Practical Diabetes International that the incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing throughout the world. Certain ethnic groups have a predisposition to diabetes in the presence of the same adverse environmental factors. In the UK, all ethnic minority groups have higher rates of diabetes than the general population: the prevalence of adult diabetes is three to five times greater in, respectively, African Caribbean and South Asian people (of all Indian subcontinental subgroups, religious or geographic) compared with the general population.1, 2 The changing ethnic composition of the UK and the progressive population enrichment with ethnic groups at high risk of diabetes may contribute to worsening diabetes demography.