Objective: To determine the prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (IFG), diabetes mellitus(DM), rates of awareness, treatment and control of DM in 14 Chinese subpopulations and the trends of development in recent years.
Methods: We collected data on history regarding DM and fasting serum glucose in 14 Chinese subpopulations aged 35 to 59 in 1998, under cluster sampling. In 4 out of the 14 subpopulation samples, a similar survey using same methods in 1993 - 1994 was carried out. IFG and DM were diagnosed according to the WHO criteria.
Results: The age-standardized prevalence rates of IFG and DM were from 0.5% to 15.6% (mean: 4.8%) and from 0.2% to 10.6% (mean: 4.3%) for the whole 14 subpopulations in 1998 which were not different between men and women, but higher in urban than in rural (P < 0.01), but increased with age (P < 0.01). The rates of awareness,treatment and control of DM were from 0% to 46.2% (mean: 33.3%), from 0% to 46.2% (mean: 27.2%), and from 0% to 15.4% (mean: 9.7%), which were significantly higher in women than in men (P < 0.01), higher in urban than in rural (P = 0.031), and higher in older participants (P < 0.05), but not much different in the levels of education. The rate of treatment in patients with awareness of DM and the rate of control in patients with treated DM were 81.6% and 35.6% respectively, which were not different between men and women, urban and rural or among different age groups. The mean prevalence of DM increased from 3.8% in 1993 - 1994 to 4.6% in 1998 (P = 0.037). The rates of awareness, treatment and control of DM had an increasing trends but with no significant differences between years 1993 - 1994 and 1998.
Conclusion: The prevalence of DM in 14 Chinese subpopulations exhibited no differences between men and women, but showing significant differences among areas and an increasing trend in the recent years. The rates of awareness, treatment, and control were still relatively low. To improve the efficacy of screening program and treatment seemed to be the two key issues in prevention and control of DM in China.