1532-P: Greater Type 2 Diabetes Risk among College Students in Egypt Is Alarming

Abstract

Egypt, a country with a population of 100 million (60% of them younger than age 30 years old), is among the top 10 nations in number of patients with diabetes according to the International Diabetes Federation. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk among young adults in Egypt is unknown. We evaluated T2D risk among 377 college students with age ranging between 19-21 years using the Finish Diabetes Score (FDS); Female 61%, body weight 71.6±14.4 kg, BMI 25±4.5 kg/m2. The overall FDS of the entire cohort was 6 (range: 0-16). Low-risk group (LR) with FDS <7 was observed in 52% of the sample (BMI 23±0.2 kg/m2, Female 54%) compared to 48% in the greater risk group (GR) with FDS ≥7 (BMI 27.6±0.3 kg/m2, Female 68%, p<0.001, p<0.01 respectively). Among GR group, there were variable T2D risk levels; slightly elevated in 36.3%, moderately elevated in 9.8%, and highly elevated risk in 1.9%. GR group had significantly higher total cholesterol versus LR group (189±2.4 vs. 179±2.3 mg/dL, p<0.01) and higher LDL-cholesterol (115±2.2 vs. 107±2.2 mg/dL, p<0.05), while HDL-C, VLDL-C, triglycerides, fasting serum insulin, fasting plasma glucose, and HOMA-IR were not different between the 2 groups. Higher proportion of subjects in the GR group reported frequent consumption of fast food (57% vs. 45%, p<0.05). Among parameters not included in the FDS model was social stress, which was significantly higher in GR (45% vs. 35%, p<0.05), and was an independent predictor of worsening FDS (β=-1.04, P<0.01) in the total cohort. We conclude that increased T2D risk is notable among Egyptian college students, especially among females and those who are overweight. Having 48% of college students at greater T2D risk is alarming. This warrants urgent need for earlier-age screening and implementing diabetes prevention programs with specific aims of reducing body weight, improving lipid profile and reducing consumption of fast food. Social stress should be considered as an important risk factor in any future development of T2D risk model in Egypt. Disclosure E.M. Eid: None. S. Tomah: Stock/Shareholder; Self; Amarin Corporation. A.H. Eldib: None. M.M. Abouelmagd: None. E.M. Fahmy: None. A.M. Elbadawy: None. H.A. Ghazi: None. O. Hamdy: Advisory Panel; Self; AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis. Consultant; Self; Abbott, Merck & Co., Inc. Research Support; Self; National Dairy Council. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Healthimation, LLC.