Epidemiology Of Diabetes In Adults In Northwest China’s GanSu Province

Aims This study is to examine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose regulation (IGR) in adults in northwest China’s Gansu province and analysis the risk factors for DM and IGR. So that we can provide theoretical basis for intervention measurement. Methods Using a stratified, cluster and random sampling design according to the different ethnic group, economic level and the urban and rural areas, the writer conducted a population-based, cross-sectional survey in northwest China’s Gansu province. A representative sample of 31417 adults, aged 20-74 years, from 14 regions including provincial capital city participated in the study. After an overnight fast among all study participants, using 75 g glucose load, a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was conducted among participants without a self-reported history of diagnosed diabetes. Questionnaire survey, physical examinations and serum lipid level were also conducted in the study variables to analysis risk factors of diabetes and IGR. The EpiData version 3.1 and SPSS version 21.0 were used for data inputting and statistics analyzing. Results The prevalence of DM was 10.6%(12.3% among men and 9.2% among women). The prevalences of previously diagnosed diabetes and the new onset diabetes were 5.2% and 5.4% respectively. In addition, the prevalence of IGR was estimated to be 15.2% (15.7% among men and 14.7% among women). The prevalence rates of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were 3.5% and 11.6% respectively. The prevalences of diabetes and IGR increased with increasing age, increasing body mass index(BMI) and waist circumference. The prevalence of diabetes among urban residents was higher than that among rural residents (11.5% vs.9.5%) which is different from the distributionof IGR among urban and rural (14.2% vs.16.3%). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that age, male sex, urban residents, smoking, family history of diabetes, abdominal obesity, overweight, generalized obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, low levels of education, and high level of economic development were significantly associated with diabetes. Simultaneously, age, male sex, rural residents, drinking, abdominal obesity, overweight, general obesity, hypertension and low levels of education were significantly associated with IGR. Conclusions The age-standardized prevalence of diabetes among a representative sample of the adults in northwest China’s Gansu province were nearly three times higher than that reported previously in 1999 (9.0% vs.3.24%)1 and was slightly lower than the newest reported national level 11.6%2. There was a difference among urban and rural about the prevalence of DM and IGR for different lifestyle and economic development. More than half of the diabetes patients are undiagnosed, which showed the low hospitalizing rate and the lack of public awareness of diabetes.