ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1596127
This article is part of the Research TopicSports, Nutrition and Public Health: Analyzing their Interconnected ImpactsView all 15 articles
Global Burden of Diabetes Mellitus 1990-2021: Epidemiological Trends, Geospatial Disparities, and Risk Factor Dynamics
Provisionally accepted
- 1Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
- 2Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 3Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
- 4The Second People's Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
- 5First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
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Diabetes mellitus(DM) remains a signiffcant global health challenge, characterized by high incidence and Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates. A comprehensive understanding of the disease burden of DM is crucial for developing effective prevention and treatment strategies.This study analyzes the global burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) from 1990 to 2021 using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study. In 2021, DM caused 1.66 million deaths, with age-standardized mortality rising by 7.95% since 1990. While Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) mortality declined by 29.24%, Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) accounted for 97.1% of deaths, with a 9.75% mortality increase. Geospatial analysis revealed extreme disparities: Pacific Island nations exhibited incidence rates >800/100,000, contrasting with <3/100,000 in Costa Rica and China. T1DM burden predominated in high-latitude regions (e.g., Finland), whereas T2DM mirrored overall DM distribution. DALYs for T2DM surged by 42.32%, disproportionately affecting Low-SDI regions. Age-stratified analyses identified distinct patterns: T2DM incidence peaked at 59-69 years, while T1DM DALYs peaked in early-middle adulthood (40-44 years). Risk factor hierarchies highlighted metabolic risks (e.g., high BMI) for T2DM and ambient temperature effects for T1DM. Despite progress in T1DM management, rising T2DM burden underscores urgent need for targeted prevention strategies addressing obesity, dietary risks, and environmental determinants. Study limitations include potential GBD data inaccuracies and ecological design constraints. These findings emphasize the imperative for region-specific interventions to mitigate the evolving diabetes pandemic.
Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Global burden of disease, Disability-adjusted life years, Geospatial disparities, Risk factors GBD=Global Burden of Disease, DM=Diabetes mellitus, T1DM=Type 1 diabetes mellitus, T2DM=Type 2 diabetes mellitus, BMI=Body Mass Index, DALYs=disability-adjusted life year, SDI=Socio-demographic Index
Received: 19 Mar 2025; Accepted: 05 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 PAN, Cao, Fang, Liu, Zhang, Luo and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ciming PAN, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
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