High prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its complications in the United Arab Emirates

Among 2455 adults of a random sample of 452 surveyed houses in the United Arab Emirates city of Al Ain, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was 10.5%, of undiagnosed diabetes 6.6% and of pre-diabetes 20.2% after adjusting for factors affecting the participation probability. Age-standardized rates for diabetes and pre-diabetes among 30-64 years old were 29.0% and 24.2%, respectively. In patients with diagnosed diabetes, the prevalence rates for retinopathy were 54.2%, for neuropathy 34.7%, for nephropathy 40.8%, for peripheral vascular disease 11.1% and for coronary heart disease 10.5%. A significant proportion of patients with undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes had micro- and macro-vascular complications. The proportion of subjects with diagnosed diabetes who achieved HbA1c levels <7% was 33.3%, LDL-cholesterol <2.6 mmol/L was 30.8% and blood pressure <130/80 mmHg was 42.1%. In conclusion, the prevalence of diabetes from a random sampling of an adult urban population from the United Arab Emirates is very high, whereas the metabolic control of diabetes is suboptimal in most subjects.

Abstract

Keywords:
BMI – Coronary heart disease – Diabetes – HbA1c – Kidney disease – LDL-cholesterol – OGTT – Plasma glucose – Pre-diabetes – Retinopathy