Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Spanish primary care setting and its association with cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular diseases. SIMETAP-DM study

Introduction The aims of this study were to determine the crude age-and sex-adjusted prevalence rates of diabetes mellitus (DM), type 1 DM (DM1) and type 2 DM (DM2), and to compare the relationship with cardiovascular risk factors, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease and metabolic diseases among populations with and without DM. Methods SIMETAP-DM is a cross-sectional observational study conducted in a primary care setting, with a random population-based sample of 10,579 adults. Response rate: 66%. The diagnoses of DM, DM1 and DM2 were based on clinical and biochemical criteria and/or the checking of these diagnoses in medical records. The crude and age- and sex-adjusted prevalence rates (standardised with the Spanish population) were calculated. Results The crude prevalence rates of DM1, DM2 and DM were 0.87% (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.67–1.13), 14.7% (95% CI: 13.9–15.6) and 15.6% (95% CI: 14.7–16.5), respectively. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence rates of DM1, DM2 and DM were 1.0% (1.3% for men and 0.7% for women), 11.5% (13.6% for men and 9.7% for women) and 12.5% (14.9% for men and 10.5% for women), respectively. The prevalence of DM in the population ≥70 years was double (30.3% [95% CI: 28.0–32.7]) that of the population between 40 and 69 years old (15.3% [95% CI: 14.1–16.5%]). Hypertension, peripheral arterial disease, increased weight-to-height ratio, albuminuria, coronary heart disease, atherogenic dyslipidaemia and hypercholesterolaemia were associated with DM. Conclusions In a Spanish primary care setting, the age-adjusted prevalences of DM1, DM2 and DM in the adult population were 1.0, 11.5 and 12.5%, respectively. A third of the population over 70 years old suffered from DM.