Abstract

BACKGROUND
Similar to other countries that underwent industrialization in recent years, the prevalence of diabetes has increased dramatically in Far East Asian countries. While the prevalence of diabetes in South Korean adults was estimated to be less than 0.5% in 1960s, a recent study from Yonchon County showed a dramatic increase to 7.2%. This was the only study performed in population-based subjects. We studied the prevalence of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance(IGT) among subjects living in Jungup clistrict, Chonlabuk-do, South Korea. METHODS: Among a total of 28,380 subjects aged over 40 years living in Jungup district a sample of 1,791 subjects living in six villages was selected using a random cluster sampling method. Among these subjects, 1,108 subjects(61.9%) completed 75g oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT). RESULTS: When the WHO criteria were used, the prevalence of diabetes and IGT were 7.1% and 8.5%, respectively, after correction for Segi's standard world population. Among the diabetic subjects, 62% of the patients did not know that they had diabetes previously. When the 1997 ADA criteria after OGTT were employed, the prevalence of diabetes and IGT/IFG(impaired fasting glucose) was 8.5% and 11.1%, respectively. The mean body mass index(BMI) of whole subjects was 22.9+2.7 for men and 24.3+3.2kg/m for women. Among subjects with normal glucose tolerance, IGT and diabetes, 31.5%, 42.3% and 50.0% of subjects were currently obese(BMI >25kg/m), respectively. The prevalence of both diabetes and IGT increased with inereasing waist-to-hip ratio(WHR) in men and women. On the other hand, the prevalence of diabetes and glucose intolerance increased with increasing BMI only in women but not in men. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of diabetes and IGT in the present study was quite similar to that in the previous Yonchon study. This prevalence of diabetes is higher than or similar to that reported in the Caucasian(~ 3% 8%), even though mean BMI of this community population(23.9 kg/m) is lower than that in the Caucasian (24.5~28.0 kg/m). It can be speculated that Far East Asian penple are more prone to develop diabetes for their degree of obesity.

• Keywords: Prevalence;Body mass index;Waist-to-hip ratio;Age;Diagnostic criteria;Diabetes;IGT;