The Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in the 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Imo State

Abstract

Diabetes is a homeostasis imbalance in which insulin is deficient. It poses a great public problem and economic cost. This study investigated prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Imo State, Southeastern Nigeria. Sample size consisted 3690 persons from across the state. Research instrument for data collection were questionnaires and test kits for blood sugar, blood pressure and body mass index determination (physical examination). Out of 2700 persons that responded to the question on whether they know about type 2 diabetes, 68% of them representing 1761±8.3 said “Yes”, while 32% representing 830±8.2 said “No”; a chi-square contingency analysis on the respondents’ knowledge of type 2 diabetes yielded a value of 83.26 (p<0.001). On whether they know if they are living with type 2 diabetes, 830 out of 2700 respondents which represent 11% of the responses said “Yes”, while 2340 which accounted for 89% of the responses said “No”. This puts the prevalence rate at 11%, but blood sugar screening results puts the prevalence rate at 21.1%. On the distribution of type 2 diabetes, 843±17.2 out 2700 respondents representing 34% said urban dwellers are more prone to type 2 diabetes than rural dwellers, 806±19.0 and 841±18.9 representing 32% and 35% said “No” and “No idea”, respectively; with a chi-square value of 831.44 and p-value of <0.001, there was very high significant difference on whether there is more type 2 diabetes on urban than rural On gender, 547±7.2 out 2700 respondents accounting for 21% of the responses said type 2 diabetes is more in men than women, while 656±10.4 respondents out 2700 noted that type 2 diabetes is more in women than men, 1334±10.3 out 2700 said they do not have any idea. This study revealed 11.0% prevalence rate of type 2 diabetes in Imo State. Type 2 diabetes is fast ravaging the health of the people of Imo state with many persons living with the diseases and yet are unaware of it.