Prevalence of and factors related to diabetes among aquaculture workers in Hai Phong, Vietnam: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Diabetes is one of the non-communicable diseases that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. The disease can lead to dangerous complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes, and limb amputation. A cross-sectional study was conducted through fasting blood sugar measurements and face-to-face interviews with 1,220 aquaculture workers to assess the prevalence and factors related to diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in aquaculture workers was 7.1%, with pre-diabetes accounting for 21.2%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed the following results: male gender (OR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.05 - 2.51), age ≥ 40 years old (OR = 2.31, 95% CI: 1.43 - 3.89), family history of diabetes (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.01 - 3.09), overweight and obese (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.15 - 2.94), hypertension (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.04 - 2.62), dyslipidemia (OR = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.08 - 2.53), abdominal obesity (OR = 3.04, 95% CI: 1.91 – 4.72), irregular exercise (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.02 - 2.48), smoking more than 20 cigarettes/day compared to non-smokers, working at night (OR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.22 - 3.15), depressive symptoms (OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.17 - 2.87) were related factors. Aquaculture workers need to take appropriate actions such as raising their awareness, changing lifestyles, having regular health check-ups and regular blood sugar testing to prevent diabetes, especially the progression of pre-diabetes into diabetes.