A survey of prevalence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in Beijing

Abstract

Objective To investigate the epidemiologic profile of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in Beijing. Methods Using cluster random sampling method, three communities were selected representing urban, peri-urban and rural areas of Beijing respectively. From Septmber to November 2007, 3484 individuals of 20 years old and above participated in our study. Each participant underwent interview for disease history, physical examination, fasting plasma glucose and serum lipid tests, and oral glucose tolerance test was done among subjects without diabetes history. Diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome were diagnosed by WHO (1999) and IDF (2005) criteria. Results The age standardized prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 10.16% in Beijing (10.97%, 11.95% and 6.86% among urban, peri-urban and rural populations respectively). Among those, the age standardized prevalence of diagnosed diabetes mellitus was 5.02%(6.14%, 6.62%, 1.71% among urban, peri-urban and rural populations respectively)(χ2=54.06, P 0.05). The age standardized prevalence of impaired fasting glucose was 1.35%(0.58%, 2.26%, 1.43% among urban, peri-urban and rural populations respectively)(χ2=12.97, P 0.05). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 20.39% (17.34%, 23.30% and 20.78% among urban, peri-urban and rural populations respectively). In all, 50.15% of diabetic patients were unaware of their disease. Conclusion The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome increased rapidly, especially in peri-urban and rural area. Key words: Diabetes mellitus; Metabolic syndrome; Impaired glucose regulation; Prevalence; Urbanization