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Background: The Yi people are considered the most primitive society in China, and live in the remote mountainous areas of Southwestern China. There have been no previous publications on genetic research concerning type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the Yi people. This is the first report that presents the association between SNP + 45 T > G (rs2241766) of the AdipoQ gene and T2D in Yi people. Our previous study showed that the prevalence of T2D in Yi people was lower than the national level in 2008. Genetic differences between Yi and Han people might be one possible explanation for this observation. Studies on the single nucleotide polymorphism SNP + 45 T > G (rs2241766) of the AdipoQ gene in Chinese Han people showed inconsistent results. This study was designed to identify genetic variants of the AdipoQ gene that contribute to the development of T2D in Yi and Han people., Methods: A case-control study on the association between SNP + 45 T > G (rs2241766) of the AdipoQ gene and T2D was carried out based on a cross-sectional study in the Liangshan area, Sichuan province in Southwestern China. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique was used to test for the presence of SNP + 45 T > G (rs2241766) in the AdipoQ gene., Results: Distributions of genotypes variants (TT/GG/TG) were not significantly different between T2D cases and controls both in Yi and Han people in China (p > 0.05). The allele frequencies (T/G) demonstrated a non-significant association with T2D, displaying OR of 1.1 (95 % CI: 0.8, 1.6) in Yi people and OR of 1.0 (95 % CI: 0.7, 1.4) in Han people., Conclusions: The SNP + 45 (rs2241766) of the AdipoQ gene is not associated with T2D neither in Yi nor in Han people in southwestern China.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2007 among 504 drug users who were recruited mainly from detoxification centers in southwest China. About one-third (34.3%) of participants reported recent risky drug use behavior, which was defined as injecting drugs in the past 3 months, and more than one-fifth (21.6%) reported recent risky sexual behavior, or had multiple sexual partners in the past 30 days. Male sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-3.2) and more episodes of detoxification (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.3-6.0) were associated with higher odds of risky drug use behavior, while unmarried status (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.9), higher personal annual income (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1-2.8) and history of sexually transmitted infections (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.1-6.6) were associated with higher odds of having risky sexual behavior. Subgroup analyses showed 15% participants who used drugs in the past 3 months also shared needles, and 77% participants who had multiple sexual partners in the past 30 days did not use condoms during sex with non-primary sexual partners. The study findings are useful for developing HIV risk reduction intervention programs among drug users.

Yi people are the most primitive society in China. Little information on the metabolic syndrome (MS) is available in Yi people. We explored whether differing lifestyle affected the prevalence of MS among farmers and migrants of Yi ethnicity and Han population in one of the Southwestern parts of China. The prevalence of MS among the three populations was described under the same International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. The study populations comprised of 1,535 Yi farmers, 1,306 Yi migrants and 2,130 Han people. The effects of physical activity, obesity and other risk factor on MS were evaluated. Results showed that the age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of MS was 9.9 times higher in Yi migrants (23.8%) and 6.3 times higher in Han people (15.2%) than in Yi farmers (2.4%). In addition, the prevalence of MS increased significantly with age in both sexes, except for a slight increase in Yi farmers. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was much lower in Yi farmers (9.3% in men and 16.5% in women) than that in Yi migrants (46.2% in men and 34.8% in women) and Han people (40.6% in men and 31.9% in women). Levels of physical activity were much greater in Yi farmers than in Yi migrants and Han people. These results indicated that lifestyle had strongly influenced the development of MS in Han and Yi Chinese and our study provided one more piece of evidence imputing that high prevalence of MS might be related to a change in lifestyle associated with urbanization.