High prevalence of diabetes in elderly of Iran: an urgent public health issue

Purpose To determine the distribution of blood glucose and prevalence of diabetes in people above 60 years living in Tehran and their relationship with some variables. Methods In this cross-sectional population-based study, multistage cluster sampling was performed in the over 60-year-old population of Tehran. Blood samples were collected from all participants and the data of the history of diabetes and the use of blood glucose lowering agents or other drugs were collected using interviews. Results Of 3791 selected subjects, 3310 participated in the study (response rate = 87.3%). The mean blood Sugar (BS) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of the patients was 118.11(95% CI: 115.34 -120.88) and 6.12(95% CI: 6.05–6.2) respectively. The prevalence of diabetes was 29.03%(95% CI: 27.12–30.94) in all subjects, 26.83%(95% CI: 24.58–29.07) in men, and 31.2%(95% CI: 28.24–34.16) in women. Odds of diabetes was significantly worse in women. systolic blood pressure, diasstolic blood pressure, height, weight, waist circumference, wrist circumference, hip circumference, neck circumference and body mass Index were significantly higher in diabetic after adjusting for the effect of sex and age. The odds of blindness was 2.69 (95% CI: 1.10–6.59) times higher in diabetic than in non-diabetics. Conclusions On average, one in every three persons above 60 years of age was diabetic. Therefore, attention should be paid to this age group, especially women, due the higher prevalence of diabetes. All anthropometric measurements except height had a strong correlation with diabetes. Blindness was significantly more in diabetics.