The recent increase in the number of people with diabetes is now thought to represent a pandemic, and it is vital that urgent, global countermeasures be taken.

In 1999, the first edition of the Treatment Guide for Diabetes (in Japanese) was published by the Japan Diabetes Society (JDS) to provide a practical guideline on diabetes care for general practitioners and co-medical staff in Japan. The pathophysiology of patients with type 2 diabetes in Asia is reported to be different from that in the United States and Europe, and the therapeutic strategies for diabetes should, accordingly, be different.

To inform healthcare professionals in other countries about our clinical practice recommendations, the JDS decided to publish an English version of the Treatment Guide for Diabetes. In this version, lists of reference literature have been omitted due to space limitations. The JDS has separately published the Evidence-based Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Diabetes in Japan in Japanese, which includes lists of reference literature. The tables of oral hypoglycemic agents and of simple blood glucose measuring devices have also been also omitted from English version of the Treatment Guide for Diabetes.

It is our great pleasure to publish the English version of the Treatment Guide for Diabetes 2007 in the year marking the 50th anniversary of JDS. We are grateful to Mr. Christopher Reynolds for his great contribution as a translator, and we express sincere appreciation to Prof. Takeshi Kuzuya and Prof. Wilfred Fujimoto for their kind contribution as reviewers. We hope that this book will be useful for all those who are responsible for the care and instruction of patients with diabetes.

Editorial Committee for the Treatment Guide for Diabetes
May 2008

Update: October 23, 2012