The Analysis of Prevalence and Incidence of Diabetes Mellitus in Romania

Abstract

AbstractBackground and Aims Diabetes mellitus (DM) represents a worldwide health problem and a major epidemic during the past decades. The exact number of people with diabetes in Romania is unknown. The aim of this paper was to determine the number of subjects registered with diabetes in Romania. Material and Method: The Romanian Society of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases (RSDNMD) asked the representatives in charge with DM in each county about the total number of subjects registered with DM, the number of subjects with newly diagnosed DM in 2011 and their treatment (insulin or oral drugs). Results: There are 803,489 persons registered with DM, with a national prevalence of 4.21%. The lowest prevalence was observed in Ilfov (0.9%) and the highest prevalence (7.83%) in Bucharest. A total of 125,574 diabetics (15.62%) are treated only with insulin while 81,910 (10.19%) with combined insulin and oral medication. In 2011 have been registered 68.294 new cases of diabetes, with an incidence of 358.63/100,000 persons. The lowest incidence was 91.15 in Giurgiu county and the highest incidence was 718.94 in Arad county. Conclusions: There are large and unexplained differences between counties for both diabetes prevalence and incidence. Consequently, RSDNMD decided to start a national epidemiological study (PREDATORR) that will be carried out in 2013.