Diabetes and the metabolic syndrome in Arab Americans: a community-based sample.

Numerous population-based studies have demonstrated that the incidence of diabetes is increasing among the Arab populations of the Middle East. The prevalence of diabetes varies from 3% in Sudan to 35% in Bahrain.1,2 Higher rates were observed in urban areas and are often associated with sociodemographic transition.3 The Arab-American community in metropolitan Detroit, populated mostly by Middle-Eastern immigrants, is undergoing a western lifestyle transition that may increase its risk for type 2 diabetes. The aims of two studies conducted during 2000 and 2002 were to examine the epidemiology of diabetes and other categories of glucose intolerance, dysglycemia-associated risk factors, and metabolic syndrome in a representative, cross-sectional, sample of Arab Americans.4