Prevalence, awareness and control of type 2 diabetes mellitus and risk factors in Chinese elderly

Yan et al. BMC Public Health (2022) 22:1382

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13759-9

RESEARCH

Prevalence, awareness and control of type

2 diabetes mellitus and risk factors in Chinese

elderly population

Yaqiong Yan1

, Tingting Wu2

, Miao Zhang2

, Changfeng Li1

, Qing Liu2*† and Fang Li1*†

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is an expanding global public health issue, especially in developing countries.

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, awareness and control rate of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and assess its

risk factors in elderly Chinese individuals.

Methods: The health screening data of 376,702 individuals aged≥65 years in Wuhan, China, were collected to

analyse the prevalence, awareness, and control rates of diabetes. Indices, including fasting plasma glucose and other

biochemical indicators, were measured for all participants using standard methods at the central laboratory. Multilevel

logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the key determinants of the prevalence, awareness, and control

rates of diabetes.

Results: The prevalence, awareness, and control rates of diabetes in the Chinese individuals aged≥65 years were

18.80%, 77.14%, and 41.33%, respectively. There were statistically signifcant diferences in the prevalence, awareness,

and control rates by gender. Factors associated with diabetes prevalence were age, body mass index (BMI), and cen￾tral obesity; while those associated with awareness and control were gender, education level, marital status, physical

activity, alcohol consumption, BMI, and central obesity.

Conclusions: Diabetes is an important public health problem in the elderly in China. The awareness and control

rates have improved, but overall remained poor. Therefore, efective measures to raise awareness and control the rates

of diabetes should be undertaken to circumvent the growing disease burden in elderly Chinese people.

Keywords: Type 2 diabetes, Prevalence, Awareness, Control, Chinese elderly

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Background

With a rapid economic development, dramatic changes

in lifestyles, and an aging population, type 2 diabetes

mellitus (T2DM) has become a leading public health

problem globally, especially in developing countries [1–

3]. According to the latest International Diabetes Fed￾eration (IDF), the global prevalence of T2DM in adults

was 536.6 million people (10.5%) in 2021, and that there

would be 783.2 million people (12.2%) living with diabe￾tes worldwide by 2045 [4]. China, the largest developing

country worldwide, contributes to one-ffth of the global

population [5], and has shown increased prevalence of

diabetes in recent years. A study by Yang et  al. in 2007

identifed that the prevalence rate of diabetes was 9.7% in

46,239 residents from 14 provinces in China [6]. Te lat￾est research data suggests 11% prevalence rate of diabetes

Open Access

†

Qing Liu and Fang Li contributed equally to this work and are co￾corresponding authors.

*Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected]

1

Wuhan Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 288# Machang Road,

Wuhan, China

2

Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public

Health, Wuhan University, 115# Donghu Road, Wuhan 430071, Hubei,

China