Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in Adult Residents of Rural Regions of Grash Town, Fars, Iran during 2015-2016

Aims: To find prevalence and related factors of diabetes mellitus in rural regions of Grash Town located in central Iran (Fars province) composed of 25 rural regions. Instruments & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on a sample of 1523 adults aged ≥30 years, living in rural regions of Grash Town during 2015-2016. We used stratified random sampling. Participants were invited by calls and informed consent was obtained from all. We checked HbA1c of participants and demographic information, past medical history, and some risk factors (BMI, familial and personal history of diabetes and level of physical activity) among them were investigated. Cases with HbA1C≥6.5% were considered diabetics. Pregnant women and people with haemoglobinopathies, anemias, and chronic liver/renal diseases were excluded. Data were analyzed, using SPSS19 software. Statistical significant level was <0.05 in this study. Findings: In this study, 507(33.3%) cases were with HbA1c≥6.5%, of whom 241 (15.8%) were previously diagnosed as diabetic. Diabetes was associated with age (p<0.001), occupation (p=0.04), education (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001), BMI (p<0.001), and familial history (p<0.001). Age ≥ 50 years, familial history of diabetes, obesity/overweight, unemployment, low educational attainment, and loss of partner were all more frequent in diabetics. Conclusion: Prevalence of diabetes measured by HbA1c in this study was greater than most previous studies in Iran. However, most studies have used FBS and we need further studies to determine optimal threshold of HbA1c for diagnosis of diabetes in Iranian population. High risk people should be focused in preventive and control programs.