Prevalence, Correlates, Awareness, Treatment and Control of Type 2 Diabetes among Industrial workers in Kerala, India

Introduction: 

Kerala state was reported to have the highest prevalence (16%) of type 2 diabetes among community dwelling adults in India: 72% were aware, 68% treated and 22% achieved adequate control of diabetes. We wanted to see whether similar proportion was there in industrial population.

Methods: 

We measured fasting plasma glucose (FPG) among 2321 workers (mean age 44 years, men 70.3%) of selected industries from two southern most districts of the State using standard protocol in 2009.  Individuals with FPG >=126 mg/dl or on medication for diabetes were considered to be diabetics.  We analyzed awareness (who reported the history of diabetes), treatment (under treatment for diabetes) and control (fasting blood glucose <126 mg/dl) of diabetes.  Blood pressure was measured using standard protocol. We did multiple logistic regression analysis to find the correlates of diabetes.

Results:  

The prevalence of diabetes was 21.7% (95% CI: 20.1-23.4) (men 24.4 %, women 15.4 %).  Among diabetics, 72.0 % were aware (men 71.9%, women 72.6%), 64.9% were treated (men 63.6%, women 69.8%) and 17.5% achieved adequate control of diabetes (men 17.1%, women 18.9%).  Odds for diabetes prevalence were three times higher for those having family history of diabetes (OR 2.96, CI 2.34-3.74), for hypertensives (OR1.81, CI 1.45-2.26) and for men (OR 1.47,1.13-1.92) compared to their counterparts. 

Conclusion:

In spite of having better access to health facilities and having regular income, those who achieved adequate control of diabetes in this population was lower than the general population the reasons for which needs to be studied further.