Prevalence and determinants of diabetes mellitus in a representative sample of italian adults

Background: There is a dramatic epidemic of diabetes mellitus worldwide. This study provides an updated estimate of its prevalence and determinants among Italian adults.Methods: data were derived from a face-to-face survey conducted in 2013 on 2901 individuals (1391 men, 1510 women) aged 18 years or more, representative of the general adult Italian population. odds ratios (or) for diabetes versus non diabetes by selected risk factors were derived using multiple logistic regression models.Results: overall, 135 out of 2901 adults (4.7%) reported a diagnosis of diabetes, with similar prevalence in men (4.8%) and women (4.5%). diabetes increased with increasing age (0.6% at age 18-44, 5.1% at age 45-64, and 11.3% at age ≥65 years; p-trend <0.001) and decreased with increasing level of education (12.8% for low, 7.8% for middle, and 1.4% for high education; p-trend <0.001). Prevalence of diabetes was higher among obese subjects (10.8%) compared to normal weight subjects (3.1%; or=2.46; p-trend=0.001), among individuals reporting less than 30 minutes of walk per day (5.6%) compared to those reporting more than 60 minutes of walk/day (3.8%; or=1.43), and among ex-smokers (11.6%) compared to never smokers (4.2%; or=2.51). Moreover, diabetes prevalence was lower among moderate drinkers (3.1%) than among abstainers (6.1%; or=0.57; p-trend=0.016). Prevalence of diabetes was 16.1% in individuals with a diagnosis of hypertension (or=4.66), 15.2% in those with high cholesterol (or=3.84), and 21.6% among aspirin users (or=4.46).Conclusions: although diabetes prevalence in Italy is still comparatively low on an european and worldwide scale, effective preventive intervention strategies – focused on major risk behaviours – should be implemented to control the diffusion of this condition.