Diabetes prevalence is steadily increasing in Europe. This study aims to compare diabetes prevalence and the existence of related socioeconomic inequalities between 19 European countries. Using data from The European Social Survey (ESS), there were 31,178 participants (53.06% women) aged 25+ years from Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Education level and employment were used as indicators of socioeconomic inequalities. Logistic regression analyses were calculated to predict diabetes by controlling for age and gender. Differences in the effect size of education on diabetes prevalence between countries were then further examined. Overall diabetes prevalence in Europe was reported to be 6.12%, and was higher in participants from Eastern and Southern Europe than in Northern and Western Europe. Additionally, men in Western and Northern Europe had a higher risk of reporting having diabetes compared to women. Employment was identified as a protective factor against diabetes development across all European regions. Moreover, individuals with a tertiary level of education had a lower risk of reporting having diabetes in most European regions except for the Eastern region. Participants with lower education levels and the unemployed ones had a higher chance of reporting having diabetes. This was found across all European regions except for some countries from the Eastern region.
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