The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the adult population of Russia (NATION study)

Abstract

Aim. To estimate the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Russian adults.Materials and methods. NATION was a national, epidemiological, observational, cross-sectional study. The sample of adults (20–79 years old) was stratified by age, sex, geographic region and settlement type to obtain a representative sample. Recruitment was performed in public areas with large number of people. T2DM was diagnosed by glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels (diabetes: HbA1c≥6.5%; pre-diabetes: HbA1c≥5.7% to <6.5%). Socio-demographic and anthropometric data were collected.Results. Blood samples from 26,620 subjects were available. Overall, 5.4% were diagnosed with T2DM (2.5% were previously diagnosed and 2.9% were previously undiagnosed); 19.3% were pre-diabetic. T2DM prevalence increased with age (up to 70 years), and no significant difference was revealed between females and males (5.6% vs. 5.1%). The estimated prevalence of pre-diabetes and T2DM tended to increase with increasing BMI. T2DM prevalence varied by geographic region and was higher in rural areas than in urban areas (6.7% vs. 5.0%, p < 0.001).Conclusion. Approximately one in five adult Russians had pre-diabetes, 5.4% had T2DM and about half of the diabetic subjects were previously undiagnosed. These results demonstrate the need for new programs in the Russian Federation to predict, prevent and manage T2DM.

Keywords

• diabetes mellitus, type 2
• epidemiological study
• undiagnosed diabetes mellitus
• prevalence
• russian federation