Diabetes in Greenland and its relationship with urbanization

Diabet. Med. 29, 755–760 (2012) Background and aim Most studies show that diabetes increases with migration and urbanization. Previous studies from Greenland have shown inconsistent associations between cardiovascular risk and urbanization. Thus, the aim was to study the association between diabetes and urbanization among Greenland Inuit. Methods A total of 3089 adult Inuit aged 18 years and older participated in a geographically representative, population‐based study ‘Inuit Health in Transition Study’. The examination included a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and anthropometric measurements. Information on socio‐demographic characteristic and health behaviour was obtained by interview or questionnaire. The participants were categorized according to degree of urbanization into three groups based on current place of residence: (1) participants living in towns (> 2000 inhabitants), (2) participants living in small towns (