Abu Dhabi Diabetes and Obesity Study

Obesity and Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have been regarded as global epidemics in developed countries and more recently in developing nations. Obesity (a T2DM risk factor) and T2DM present significant health risks as individual diseases and substantial risks in individuals with both complications (Deepa Nath, 2006). The UAE and USA have a similar prevalence of obesity, 36% and 35.7% respectively. Interestingly, the percentage of the population with T2DM between the two groups differs significantly, 25% and 8.7% respectively. The rate of T2DM in the Emirati population is 2.9 fold higher than in the US. This suggests an altered inter relationship between obesity and T2DM. One hypothesis that could explain such a variation is differences in body metabolism and central adiposity between the two populations. This will be assessed by measuring cardiometabolic risk factors, central adiposity and metabolomics. Analysis of the metabolomic profiles may help define the risk factors associated with diabetes and differences in metabolic activity between various ethnicities.

Another area of ample interest is the advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) metabolic pathways (Pietropaoli D, 2012). AGEs are formed at an increased rate in diabetes and have a number of detrimental effects such as retinopathy, nephropathy and atherosclerosis (Melpomeni Peppa, 2003). As such, determining the core mechanisms that result in metabolic and cardiovascular dysfunction will aid in identifying and developing therapeutic targets, which may in turn alleviate the deleterious effects of respective disorders such as diabetes.

The aetiology of diabetes is complex. However, adenovirus 36 has been shown to play a significant role in obesity and diabetes. As such, analysis of ADV-36 occurrence within the Emirati population may provide insight into a novel obesity and diabetes risk factor and could further clarify the relationship between obesity and T2DM.

This study may provide evidence that clarifies how obesity can result in T2DM, and why this occurrence is more predominant in the Emirati population. In addition, the assessment of AGEs within the population, ranging from people with diabetes and obesity to healthy individual, may provide insight into potential therapeutic targets, thereby improving overall heath in the population. Finally, the data may improve our knowledge of new risk factors such as ADV-36 and their subsequent effects on diabetes.