PREVALENCE OF ADULT DIABETES IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

Within the framework of an international collaborative network, we mea sured the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in a traditional Yoruba comm unity in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria, Using a random sampling techniqu e we enrolled a community sample of 247 men and women, Easting blood g lucose (FBG) was measured at the community clinic from a fingerstick u sing the Companion2 Medisense blood glucose meter, The mean FBG was 4. 7mmol/L and 49mmol/L for men and women, respectively. Using the 1985 W HO criteria, the prevalence of diabetes was 2.8%, There was no signifi cant rise in FBG with age, Compared to the lowest quartile of the body mass index (BMI), there was about a 1.5 fold increased risk of develo ping elevated FBG. The test of trend between FBG and BMI was however n ot statistically significant, Despite a modest hypertension rate (22.3 %), there was no significant difference in the FBG for hypertensives c ompared to normotensives. The findings of this study show that the pre valence of diabetes mellitus in this West African community remains lo w compared to nations in Western socities, However, in comparison to p revious estimates from sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of adult ons et diabetes seems to be on the increase.