A study of 'BMJ' finds indications that relate both phenomena.
The increase in global temperature plays a role in the growing number of people who develop diabetes, as it has suggested an investigation published in the digital edition of BMJ Open Diabetes Research & AMP magazine;Care.
Throughout the world, the prevalence of type II diabetes increases in a very accelerated way: in 2015, up to 415 million adults worldwide suffered the disease, and the prevalence is expected to increase by almost 55 percent, up to 642 millionof cases in 2040.
In the human body, the function of brown adipose tissue (Bat) consists of transforming food in heat.Previous studies have shown that exposure to cold stimulates the BAT, which leads to modest weight loss and improves action and insulin sensitivity, causing a person to be less likely to develop the disease.
A team of Dutch researchers from the Medical Center of the University of Leiden, led by Professor Patrick Rensen, has proposed to investigate whether global temperature increases contribute to the current growth of type II diabetes, negatively affecting the glucose metabolismfrom a reduction in the activity of the BAT.
The intention of the study has consisted of evaluating the association of external temperature with the incidence of diabetes and the prevalence of glucose intolerance, at national and global scale.
Research in 50 US states
Researchers have used data on the incidence of diabetes between adults in 50 states of the United States and three territories (Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands) between 1996 and 2009 of the National Diabetes Surveillance System of the Centers for Control and Control Centers andDisease prevention (CDC) from the United States.
The information of the online data storage system of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the prevalence of glucose intolerance and fasting obesity in 190 countries was also analyzed.
In addition, the annual temperature data of the countries were obtained through the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom.
Researchers have found that, on average, for each centigrade degree of temperature rise, the incidence of adjusted diabetes increased by 0.314 by 1,000.Similarly, the global prevalence of glucose intolerance rose 0.17 percent for a centigrade degree of temperature increase.These associations were the same after taking into account obesity.
These findings indicated that the incidence rate of diabetes in the United States and the prevalence of glucose intolerance worldwide grew with a higher outside temperature.
1º C increase, more than 100,000 new cases of diabetes in a year
Using their findings, the authors estimated that an increase in a centigrade degree in ambient temperature represents more than 100,000 new cases of diabetes per year only in the United States, which had a population of almost 322 million people in 2015.
This was an observational study, so firm conclusions cannot be drawn on the cause and effect, but the authors analyzed the longitudinal data at the state level for each state separately before grouping the results.
They also detected that once important differences between countries, such as age, sex, income and obesity were taken into account, this did not substantially change the results globally.
The analysis could not evaluate the direct relationship between the body mass index (BMI) and the incidence orPrevalence of diabetes in their models because there was no continuous data on the BMI.
The authors have indicated that, once the results are adjusted to take into account the prevalence of obesity - which only slightly reduced the association between the external temperature and diabetes - other studies further evaluate any impact than the BMI has on their findings.
Researchers have concluded that “these findings highlight the importance of future research on the effects of ambient temperature on glucose metabolism and the beginning of diabetes, especially taking into account the global increase in temperatures, with a newThe warmer winter record in the United States last year. ”
