[Clinical and pathophysiological features of Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and their risk factors for diabetic complication].

The pathophysiological backgrounds as well as clinical phenotypes of Japanese or East Asian patients with type 2 diabetes are quite different from those in Western countries. According to results of East Asian large-scale studies such as the Japan Diabetes Complications Study (JDCS), which is a representative cohort of Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes, Japanese patients had a much lower body mass index and lower incidence of coronary heart disease compared with Caucasian diabetic patients. Other differences between Japanese and Caucasian patients with type 2 diabetes could be found in risk factors such as fruit intake on retinopathy and significance of triglycerides, or the effects of moderate alcohol drinking on cardiovascular disease. These results demonstrated a necessity of ethnic group-specific risk evaluations and care of type 2 diabetes and its complications.