THE PRESENTATION OF NEWLY-DIAGNOSED DIABETIC-PATIENTS IN UGANDA

We assessed the clinical characteristics of newly-diagnosed diabetic p atients presenting to the Mulago Hospital Diabetic Clinic for the firs t time between 1 January 1993 and 10 August 1994. There were 252 patie nts: 117 men and 135 women. Mean age at onset of diabetes was 45 years (range 2-87 years) and peak incidence was at 40-49 years. Body mass i ndex (BMI) was available in only 71 patients, of whom 53.5% (33.8% fem ale, 19.7% male) were overweight (BMI > 25 in women, in > 27 men) and 11.3% (8.5% men, 2.8% women) were underweight (BMI < 20). Obesity was more marked in young women. Almost all patients presented with the cla ssical symptoms of diabetes, and the majority were severely hyperglyca emic. A family history of diabetes was identified in 16%. Concurrent i llnesses at diagnosis of diabetes were unusual. Sepsis was commonest ( 11.9%), followed by malaria (7.8%), tuberculosis (1.2%), AIDS (1.2%) a nd pancreatitis (0.8%). Peripheral neuropathy was present in 46.4% of patients, hypertension (BP > 150/100) in 27.3%, impotence in 22.2% of the men, proteinuria in 17.1%, ischaemic heart disease in 4.8%, foot u lcers in 4.0% and cataracts in 3.2%. Insulin was the most commonly pre scribed treatment (52.8%); 31% of patients received oral hypoglycaemic agents, only 15.1% were managed on diet only, and 1.2% opted for herb al medicine.