Prevalence of and risk factors for diabetes mellitus in the school-attending adolescent population of the United Arab Emirates: a large cross-sectional study

ObjectivesThe prevalence of diabetes has reportedly increased among adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries of the Middle East and may be linked to social, demographic and economic contextual factors. This study aimed: (1) to estimate the prevalence of self-reported diagnosis of diabetes in the adolescent population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE); (2) to assess differences in the prevalence based on gender and (3) to identify other characteristics of those with diabetes including parental marital status, smoking/illegal drug use, quality of life and nationality.DesignA secondary data analysis was performed on data from the National Study of Population Health in the UAE, conducted between 2007 and 2009.SettingLarge cross-sectional population-based survey study.ParticipantsSurvey was administered to a stratified random sample of 151 public and private schools from the UAE, across 7 emirates. 6365 school-attending adolescents (12–22 years; mean=16 years) participated.OutcomesMultivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between diabetes diagnosis and characteristics of participants after adjusting for confounding from other predictors.ResultsThe overall prevalence of self-reported diabetes was 0.9% (95% CI 0.7% to 1.2%) and was higher in males 1.5% (95% CI 1.0% to 2.1%) than females 0.5% (95% CI 0.3% to 0.8%), (p