Diabetes mellitus represents one of the major public health issues affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide, with an increasing prevalence of about 16% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the onset of the disease is 10-15 years earlier than the global average. Up to one-third of all deaths in adult UAE nationals with T2D could be attributed to non-optimal glucose levels control. Given this high incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D), consanguineous marriages, lifestyle influence, and total healthcare costs allocated to diabetes management in the Middle East population that are being among the highest in the world, it is pertinent to understand better factors associated with T2D and its related comorbidities, such as neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, diabetic patients are exposed to the higher risk for cancer, demonstrating the significance of research concerning the biological links and identification of potential novel biomarkers associated with these complex diseases. Our goal in this project is to determine the levels of biomarkers in patients with T2D, as well as to analyse their potential association with T2D risk and related traits in the UAE population.
