Diabetes

Last update: 30 September 2009,
by Maureen Bell

Diabetes is a major health problem worldwide. According to the World Health Organization recent estimates predict that if current trends continue the number of people with diabetes will more than double, from 140 million to 300 million in the next 25 years. The greater proportion of the increase is likely to occur in the developing countries.

I've divided this page into two sections. The first provides you with some tips on searching for material on Medline, and the second provides links to other Australian and overseas web resources, including some full text material.

Searching Medline

Remember that Medline has a Thesaurus of terms - MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), a controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in Medline. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information where authors may use different terminology for the same concepts.

You will find material on this subject in Medline, but you will need to be aware of the thesaurus (MeSH) terms relating to it. Diabetes alone is not a MeSH term, but it is associated with the MeSH term Diabetes Mellitus, which has a number of more specific terms associated with it, and you can see these listed in the MeSH database.

MeSH - Diabetes

Many topics in MeSH have hierarchies of more specific subcategories or related terms. The indentations in the lists reflect the structure of the hierarchy. Any of these terms can be searched individually, or you can "explode" terms to search sections of the list.

When you search for subjects using MeSH terms from the Medline thesaurus you will also have the option of appending subheadings to narrow the focus of your search.

For a list of the abbreviations used for subheadings in PubMed click here

Try using the search structure below to search for articles on type 2 diabetes and diet.

COMBINE

Diabetes Mellitus, Type II (MeSH term)
A subclass of DIABETES MELLITUS that is not INSULIN-responsive or dependent (NIDDM). It is characterized initially by INSULIN RESISTANCE and HYPERINSULINEMIA; and eventually by GLUCOSE INTOLERANCE; HYPERGLYCEMIA; and overt diabetes. Type II diabetes mellitus is no longer considered a disease exclusively found in adults. Patients seldom develop KETOSIS but often exhibit OBESITY.

AND

Diet (MeSH term)
Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal. This does not include DIET THERAPY, a specific diet prescribed in the treatment of a disease.

PubMed Search Formulation

This search strategy uses the headings Diabetes Mellitus, Type II and diet. The section in the square brackets includes majr - which focuses the search on articles where the subject is a major issue in the article. The search is then limited to articles which are in English or which have English abstracts.

The term Diet occurs in two places in MeSH and as PubMed's default setting is to "explode" all terms it will be exploded in both. This search will therefore include all the subcategories of diet listed below in each category.

Diet
Diet, Mediterranean
Diet, Vegetarian
Diet, Macrobiotic
Energy Intake
Caloric Restriction

Diet
Diet, Atherogenic
Diet, Cariogenic
Fasting

Click here to see how it works. PubMed Search.

Australian Sources

AusDiab
The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study is the largest Australian longitudinal population-based study examining the natural history of diabetes, pre-diabetes (in which glucose metabolism is impaired but not to the level to cause diabetes), heart disease and kidney disease. It is an initiative of Baker IDI, which was created in 2008 after the merger of the Baker Heart Research Institute and the International Diabetes Institute (IDI).

Department of Health and Ageing - Diabetes
From the Department of Health and Ageing. Provides links to a number of documents about diabetes prevention and treatment.

Diabetes (AIHW)
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare portal for information on diabetes. Click here for the full text of publications on this topic.

Diabetes Statistics
From HealthInsight, an Australian Government initiative, funded by the Department of Health and Ageing.

Health Report - Diabetes
Transcripts from Radio National's Health Report, with Norman Swan.

National Evidence Based Guidelines for the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
From the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

National Health Priority Area: Diabetes
The National Health Priority Areas of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing are cancer control, injury prevention and control, cardiovascular health, diabetes mellitus, mental health, asthma, and arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions.

Population Research and Outcome Studies - Diabetes Clearing House
From the Department of Health in South Australia.

Type 2 Diabetes Costs in Australia
Type 2 Diabetes Costs in Australia: the potential impact of changes in diet, physical activity and levels of obesity. Prepared by Geoffrey C. Marks, Terry Coyne, and Glen Pang. Australian Food and Nutrition Monitoring Unit, 2001.

Overseas Sources

CDC Diabetes Public Health Resource
From the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States.

CDC's Diabetes Program - Publications & Products
Full text of reports and fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's DiabetesProgram.

Conquering Diabetes: A Strategic Plan for the 21st Century, Report Summary and Recommendations
From the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health in the United States.

Diabetes
Resources from the Department of Health in the U.K.

Diabetes (WHO)
From the Diabetes Programme of the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health of the World Health Organization.

Diabetes - healthfinder®
Healthfinder is a web site, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services together with other Federal agencies.

Diabetes in America, 2nd Edition
Diabetes in America. National Diabetes Data Group, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. NIH Publication No. 95-1468. 1995. This is a compilation and assessment of epidemiologic, public health, and clinical data on diabetes and its complications in the United States. It was published by the National Diabetes Data Group of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

Diabetes in Canada - Second Edition
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Population and Public Health Branch, Health Canada, 2002.

Global Prevalence of Diabetes: Estimates for the Year 2000 and Projections for 2030
By Sarah Wild, Gojka Roglic, Anders Green, Richard Sicree, and Hilary King.
Diabetes Care 2004, 27: 1047–1053

Intute: Diabetes
Intute is a U.K. gateway to evaluated, quality Internet resources, aimed at students, researchers, academics and practitioners.

MEDLINEplus: Diabetes
A collection of resources from MEDLINEplus, the National Library of Medicine's health information resource for the public.

National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP)
NDEP is a partnership of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 200 public and private organizations.

National Diabetes Statistics
General information, and national estimates of diabetes in the United States.

NHS Evidence - Diabetes
From the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the U.K.