The prevalence of overweight and obesity in newly discovered diabetic patients

Background and aims. The aim of this paper was to make a comparison between the main clinical characteristics (especially age at onset and body mass index - BMI) of newly diagnosed diabetic patients based on the analysis of our current data, our previous data and data from international literature. We analyzed a cohort of 1463 (757 males and 706 females) recorded between 2010-2012 and compared it with the previous cohorts of diabetic patients belonging to the same “Ion Pavel” Diabetes Centre, Bucharest and whose characteristics were published along the years. We divided patients according to age, sex and type of diabetes. Our data showed that the main clinical characteristics (the decrease of the age at onset and the increase in BMI) in the recent cohort of diabetic patients can be related to the lifestyle changes and the increased prevalence of overweight and obesity in the general population. The pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes is closely related with a negative effect of overweight on the β-cell function, suggesting that prevention of diabetes must be based on a decrease in BMI induced by an appropriate change in the modern pathogenic lifestyle.