Clinical Investigations Prevalence Trend in Diabetes in Turkish Adults: a Cohort 5-Year Follow-up Study

Of the cohort of the nationwide cardiac survey conducted in 1990 on a random sample of Turkish adult population, excluding 118 instances of death, 1094 surviving women and 1046 men were followed up with respect to presence of diabetes mellitus. The latter was defined to comprise known diabetics, those having a fasting blood glucoe > 130 mg/dl or a 2-hour postprandial glucose level exceeding 170 mg/dl. Glucose intolerance was recorded in 55 men and 78 women among whom this had newly developed in the preceding 5 years in 28 men and 29 women. The prevalence in the age group of 25-44 years of 1.5%, reached 8.6% and 13.1%, respectively, in men and women 45 years of age or older. When two methods, namely adjustment for aging by 5 years and one that considered the age distribution of the cohort followed up, were applied the prevalence was found to have risen by 25% in men and by 15% in women as compared to the anticipated prevalence. This suggests that the number of diabetics in Turkey rose by 40.000 annually. - Among 82 persons noted as diabetics in 1990 and followed up, 6 died and 7 sustained a nonfatal coronary event subsequently. A relationship reaching statistical significance was not found between presence of diabetes and fatal and nonfatal coronary events, most likely due to the limited number of diabetics involved.