The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Philippines: A 9-year cohort study

Abstract Aims Currently, there are no available data on the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Philippines. A cohort derived from a national study population (FNRI-NNS, 1998) was revisited after 9 years to yield valuable data on glucose homeostasis among Filipinos. Methods Six out of 13 national regions were included in the cohort. There were 1749 out of 2122 respondents (82.4%). 1386 (95.9%) consented to a fasting blood glucose (FBG) test, and 1275 (88.2%) completed the 2 h post-glucose (2HPG) load determination using whole blood capillary samples. Results We observed a significant increase of mean FBGs (91.5 mg/dL to 103.3 mg/dL) from 1998 to 2007. The 9-year incidence of T2DM was 16.3%. The prevalence of T2DM was 28.0%. The prevalence of pre-diabetes, i.e., combined impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) was 31.3%; IFG was 17.5% and IGT was 23.9%. Conclusions The study shows the alarming growth of diabetes, IFG, and IGT in our country that warrants early aggressive intervention for prevention and management. We encourage the use of 2 h post-glucose load aside from FBG in screening for true diabetics, IFGs, and IGTs.