ABSTRACT
Diabetes is a complex multisystem disease and for effective management people need, preferably, a coordinated patient-centred approach with set standards and a computerised register. It is a common disease, the incidence of which is estimated to rise by 25% over the next decade because of the ageing population, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and so forth. The criteria for diagnosis were agreed by the World Health Organization in June 2000. The implications of these changes are that more people will be diagnosed as being diabetic. The United Kingdom (UK) Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) is a large, ongoing study of type 2 diabetes involving around 5000 patients set up in 1977. The UKPDS grew out of the author's interest in the use of basal rather than postprandial glucose. The first report was published in 1983. During the course of the study, length of follow-up has changed and end points have been redefined.
