Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions and may soon become the world's leading cause of death. According to the Chicago Diabetes Project, in 1985 there were 30 million diabetics; today the number has skyrocketed to more than 197 million. By 2025, diabetes is likely to affect more than 300 million people worldwide. The condition leads to serious medical complications including amputations, blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks and stroke. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 80 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, are obese or overweight. The two conditions are so strongly associated that decades ago scientists began using the term "diabesity."

The conference's morning session will focus on biomedical advances and prevention of risk. Following a lunch talk about the Chicago Diabetes Project, the afternoon session will address health policy and interventions. The keynote address, by Dr. Jerrold M. Olefsky of the University of California, San Diego, is on genetic and basic studies of the metabolic syndrome in animal models.

Source : UIC College of Medicine