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Epidemiology

Lifetime risk of diabetes mellitus — how high?

Studies on lifetime risk of the range of glucose impairments are scarce. A new study by Ligthart and colleagues reports that half of all people who initially have normal blood levels of glucose eventually develop prediabetes mellitus and most of these individuals progress to type 2 diabetes mellitus, with 9% eventually requiring insulin therapy.

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Correspondence to Jaakko Tuomilehto.

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Tuomilehto, J., Bahijri, S. Lifetime risk of diabetes mellitus — how high?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 12, 127–128 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.227

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