• Wolfgang Rathmann, Christa Scheidt-Nave, Michael Roden, and Christian Herder.
• Institute of Biometrics and Epidemiology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Auf'm Hennekamp 65, Düsseldorf, Germany.
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2013 May 1; 110 (19): 331337331-7.

BackgroundThe epidemiology of type 2 diabetes in Germany is of major societal interest, as is the question of the predictive value of genetic and acquired risk factors.MethodsWe present clinically relevant aspects of these topics on the basis of a selective review of pertinent literature retrieved by a PubMed search that centered on population-based studies.ResultsThe German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (Studie zur Gesundheit Erwachsener in Deutschland [DEGS1], 2008-2011) revealed that diabetes was diagnosed in 7.2% of the population aged 18 to 79 years (women 7.4%, men 7.0%). These figures are two percentage points higher than those found in the preceding national survey (1998). The percentage of cases that were not captured by these surveys is estimated at 2% to 7% depending on the method. Independently of personal factors (the individual's life style), it seems that living in a disadvantaged region characterized by high unemployment, air pollution, and poor infrastructure raises the risk of diabetes. Moreover, type 2 diabetes has a substantial hereditary component. More than 60 genetic regions have been identified to date that affect the risk of type 2 diabetes, yet all of them together account for only 10% to 15% of the genetic background of the disease.ConclusionThe prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Germany has risen in recent years. The discovery of new genetic variants that confer a higher risk of developing the disease has improved our understanding of insulin secretion in diabetes pathogenesis rather than the prediction of individual diabetes risk ("personalized medicine").

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