Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2014, 4, 175-181 Published Online April 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpm http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpm.2014.44023 How to cite this paper: Khajedaluee, M., et al. (2014) The Burden of Diabetes in a Developing Country. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 4, 175-181. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpm.2014.44023 The Burden of Diabetes in a Developing Country Mohammad Khajedaluee 1 , Maliheh Dadgarmoghaddam 1* , Reza Saeedi 1 , Zahra Izadi-Mood 2 , Maryam Abrishami 2 1 School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 2 Health Department, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Email: * maliheh_dadgar@yahoo.com Received 28 January 2014; revised 28 February 2014; accepted 22 March 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Introduction: People with diabetes often develop diverse microvascular, macrovascular, and neu- ropathic complications. Diabetes named high disease because of its high prevalence, high inci- dence, chronicity and high costs. Accurate projections of diabetes burden are essential for health planning so the aim of this study was to calculate the burden of diabetes in Razavikhorasan popu- lation, in Iran. Methodology: We used Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) index using computer model (DisMod) for assessment of burden of diabetes and complications in Razavikhorasan prov- ince in Iran in year 2010-2011. Results: Burden of diabetes in Razavikhorasan population was 64,733 DALY in year 2010-2011. The total Years Life Lost (YLL) from diabetes mellitus was 62,883 (34,216 in men and 28,667 in women) due to premature death and the total Years Life Disability (YLD) was 1850. Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus and lesser forms of glucose intolerance can now be found in almost every population and epidemiological evidences suggest that, without effective prevention and control programs, diabetes will continue to increase and therefore advances in all levels of prevention may help reduce the number of people with diabetes. Keywords Burden of Diabetes; DisMod; YLL; YLD; DALYs; Iran 1. Introduction Diabetes was first described with the symptoms of polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia [1]. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia and classified into four types: type * Corresponding author.