RESUMEN
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Type 2 diabetes is increasing in both developed and developing countries due to popularity of western lifestyle and population structure. Then, this systematic review aimed to identify the prevalence and trend of diabetes in the Middle-East region. METHOD: We searched Google Scholar, PubMed and Medline from 2000 up to 2018. MeSH terms were a combination of "diabetes", "prevalence", "diabetes mellitus", "type 2 diabetes", "Name of Countries" and "Middle East". Pooled estimates were obtained by means of random effect models to account for variation between studies. FINDING: Of the initially 669 identified articles, a total of 50 reports with 4,263,662 subjects met inclusion criteria. The combined prevalence of diabetes in the region was about 14.6% (95% CI: 11.6-17.5) which varied from 2.6% (95% CI: 2.5-2.6) to 21.9 (95% CI: 16.8-17.5) amongst countries. Therefore, approximately a total of 46 million individuals are now suffering from diabetes in the Middle East based on above-mentioned pooled estimate. CONCLUSION: The pattern and growing trend of diabetes during last 20 years in the study area is alarming and underline the point that maximal risk reduction for developing diabetes should be at the top of health priorities.