The epidemiology of diabetes mellitus (DM) is a section of diabetology that includes the study of the basic laws of the formation of the epidemiological situation and the epidemiological conditions in relation to this disease, as well as environmental, social and biological factors that determine the dynamics of its main epidemiological characteristics. The end points of the epidemic process are the prevalence of cases of the disease, their frequency and mortality of patients with diabetes. Each of these characteristics is determined by many factors that can change their importance, priority and even lose it over time. The epidemiological approach to solving a number of diabetological problems is based on the same principles as the epidemiology of other noncommunicable diseases: cardiovascular, oncological and some others. The main ones: the object of study is the population (population); the study of the disease is carried out in vivo of its development and course; in the researcher’s field of vision, the whole set of factors that can be associated with the fact of the development of the disease.

The modern system of medical and statistical observation, which has developed in Russia, does not allow a sufficiently complete assessment of the real epidemiological situation in relation to such a disease as diabetes mellitus (DM). Meanwhile, the damage associated with the incidence of diabetes mellitus, early disability and mortality from it, as well as the cost of treatment of patients are very significant. Planning specialized care for patients, providing them with a sufficient amount of medicines, as well as training the necessary number of specialists and specially trained average staff to work with patients with diabetes requires a clear knowledge of their needs. In this regard, there is a need for a more complete and systematic account of not only the fact of disease or death, but also the presence of complications of diabetes, the need for insulin, oral hypoglycemic agents, the causes of disability and death of patients with diabetes. In world practice, the above problems are solved by creating a register of SD. In its modern view, the diabetes register is an automated information system for recording the results of continuous medical-statistical monitoring of diabetes incidence and mortality in connection with it. The system provides for monitoring of the patient from the moment of his inclusion in the register until his death. The latter involves the registration of information about the patient with diabetes in various aspects: the presence of complications, their dynamics, treatment and availability of drugs, as well as the nature of the course of diabetes, the direct causes of death of the patient. The amount of information recorded depends on the objectives pursued by the organizers of the register.

In 1980, the WHO Expert Committee on Diabetes Mellitus (DM) proposed a new classification of diabetes. In it, impaired glucose tolerance (NTG) was identified as an independent clinical class. This was due to the following: diabetes, primarily non-insulin-dependent (NIDDM), as a rule, develops gradually, and several stages can be distinguished in its development [35, 55]. The first of them, according to many experts, is NTG.

The authors analyze the files of one territorial center of the State Register of Diabetes Mellitus, situated in the center of Moscow. Data on the incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and its complications in adults as recorded for January 1, 1995, are discussed. In men the prevalence and incidence of IDDM is significantly higher than in women. The incidence of IDDM complications increases with the age of patients and duration of the disease. Organization of diabetes register appreciably improves medical statistical monitoring of the epidemiological situation with regard to diabetes, provides more complete information needed for planning and economic validation of diabetological service of public health, and helps define the strategy of primary and secondary prevention of the disease and the main trends of epidemiological research.

The National Register of Diabetes Mellitus in children living in Moscow has been created. By January 1, 1995 there were 892 children with insulin-dependent diabetes in Moscow. The prevalence and incidence of the disease were, respectively, 57 and 11.2 per 100,000 children. The degree of compensation of the metabolic control in the population in general was poor (Hb A1 13.4+2.8%, Hb Alc 10.012%). The incidence of diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, sensory neuropathy, microalbuminuria, limited morbidity of the joints, growth delay was 4.5, 3.2, 3.3, 8.7, 7, and 3.1%, respectively.