TITLE:
Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in a group of women attending “August meeting” at Naze South East Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Charles U. Osuji, Bernard A. Nzerem, Chudi E. Dioka, Samuel C. Meludu, Emmanuel I. Onwubuya
KEYWORDS:
Diabetes Mellitus; August Meeting; Igbo-Speaking; Blood Glucose
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,
Vol.2 No.3,
August
31,
2012
ABSTRACT: Background: For a long time Africa was considered safe from diabetes. However, the International Diabetes Federation predicts an increase in diabetes from 240 million in 2007 to 380 million in 2025 with 80% of the disease burden in low and middle-income countries including Africa. This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among a group of Nigerian women who had earlier been found to have a high prevalence of overweight/obesity. Methods: 253 women attending the 2009 Meeting were recruited for the study. Blood glucose concentration was measured using ACCU-CHEK(R) Advantage glucometer by Roche Diagnostics and diabetes mellitus defined as fasting blood glucose concentration >7 mmol/L. Results: The population mean age was 53.04 ± 11.09 years, diabetics 55.76 ± 10.77 years, and non-diabetics 52.84 ± 11.11 years p = 0.709. 17 (6.7%) subjects had diabetes. Of the 17 diabetics 10 (3.95%) were known to have diabetes previously and 7 (2.76%) were diagnosed for the first time. 3 of the 17 diabetics were aged 50 years. 11 of the 17 (64.7%) diabetics had blood pressure > 140/ 90 mmHg while only 54 of the 236 (22%) non-diabetics had blood pressure >140/90 mmHg. The mean non fasting blood glucose concentration of the population was 5.83 ± 2.33 mmol/L, that of diabetics was 11.9 ± 5.27 mmol/L and non-diabetics 5.39 mmol/L ± 1.03, p