Historical data suggests that, in the 1960s, TAN in Africa was most common in people in their 30s and 40s.While the areas affected roughly correspond to the areas in which cassava is grown, some people in non-cassava-growing populations get TAN, and some cassava-growing populations do not get TAN. It is possible that there are several diseases being categorized as TAN.It has been estimated that 5% of surviving World War II prisoners of war held in the Far East acquired TAN; while they were held for 3.5 years or less, the TAN symptoms persisted chronically after they returned to temperate climates. Other animals
The behaviour and neurology of malnourished and cassava-fed rats has been compared to that of humans with TAN. See also
Konzo, a diet-based tropical neuropathy
Lathyrism, a diet-based neuropathy
Tropical spastic paraparesis, and infectious tropical myeloneuropathy
Neglected tropical diseases
Beri-beri


== References ==
Infants from diabetic mothers usually have several blastogenic malformations. Diabetic embryopathy is therefore an etiological subgroup of defects of blastogenesis that present different monotopic and polytopic developmental defects. Abortion and perinatal deaths
Diabetic embryopathy may result in early or late spontaneous abortion and stillbirth. In maternal diabetes, 90% of pregnancy losses happen in the first trimester due to oxidative stress. Diabetic embryopathy abortions in the second-trimester are most likely due to severe birth defect, maternal metabolic derangement, placental insufficiency and fetal hypoxia due to membrane rupture. Pathogenesis
The development of birth defects associated with maternal hyperglycemia is multi-factorial. Environmental factors and genetic predisposition (paternal, maternal and offspring genome) are important in diabetic embryopathy. The diets of diabetic mothers impacts the rate at which malformations form in their offspring. Furthermore, there is evidence that resistance to certain malformations caused by diabetes is genetic. Epigenetics and its relationship with various environmental factors such as metabolism and diet play a significant role in teratogenesis. Hyperglycemia and associated teratogenic mediators influence DNA methylation, non-coding RNA expression, histone modifications and other epigenetic regulation mechanisms. Research is focused on exploring the impact of diabetic embryopathy on methylation signatures, which could potentially serve as a diagnostic biomarker for the condition. Prevention
Preconception
The probability of major birth defects in offspring of mothers with diabetes is 0.7-4.4% for glycohemoglobin levels <7%. For glycohemoglobin levels >10% the probability of major birth defects is 16.1-100% with an average of 26.6%.