Epidemiology of glucose intolerance and associated factors in Uzbekistan: a survey in Sirdaria province

Prevalence of glucose intolerance and other noncommunicable diseases has been examined in subjects aged 35 years and over in a rural community in Sirdaria, which lies in the central part of Uzbekistan. Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were diagnosed according to the recommendations of the latest WHO Study Group on diabetes. The overall response to the survey was 82%. Crude prevalence of diabetes was 4% in women and 11% in men. However, young men were under-represented and the age-standardised prevalence was 7.5% in women and 10.0% in men. Subjects with abnormal glucose tolerance had higher mean body mass index (BMI), waist–hip ratio (WHR), systolic and diastolic blood pressures and prevalence of hypertension, and were less physically active than those with normal glucose tolerance. Women were younger, had higher mean BMI, similar WHR, lower mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures and were less physically active than men. Approximately one-third of all subjects were centrally obese (WHR 0.85 or above for women and 0.95 or above for men). Of these, one-third had coexisting glucose intolerance. It is concluded that glucose intolerance and central obesity are common in this rural Central Asian community.