PREVALENCE OF DIABETES-MELLITUS AND IMPAIRED GLUCOSE-TOLERANCE IN ABORIGINES AND CHINESE IN EASTERN TAIWAN

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of diabetes mell itus and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in three different ethnic gr oups in eastern Taiwan. The study was performed among Han Chinese, abo riginal Ami and aboriginal Atayal in six rural villages. Inhabitants a ged 40 years and over were invited to participate. A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was used as suggested by the World Health Organ ization (WHO) for population screening purposes. WHO criteria were use d for determining the results. A total of 1013 adults (460 men and 553 women) were examined with a response rate of 62.1%. There were no sig nificant differences in sex, age and history of diabetes between respo nders and non-responders. The age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes was 11.0% (9.8% in men and 12.3% in women) in the Chinese, 9.1% (12.1% in men and 7.4% in women) in the Amis, 10.8% (11.5% in men and 9.4% in wo men) in the Atayal and 9.9% (11.5% in men and 8.5% in women) for the t wo aboriginal groups together. Although sex differences in prevalence of diabetes were not statistically significant, it seems that diabetes was slightly more prevalent in Chinese women than in Chinese men (12. 3 versus 9.8%). Nonetheless, the prevalence rate of diabetes was somew hat higher in the aboriginal males than in the aboriginal females (12. 1 versus 9.8% for Ami and 11.5 versus 10.7% for Atayal). The prevalenc e of IGT was 7.2, 8.5, 10.8 and 9.7% for the Chinese, Amis, Atayal and the two aboriginal groups, respectively. There were no substantial di fferences in the prevalence of diabetes and IGT among these three ethn ic groups. Environment, rather than ethnicity, was more likely the pre dominant factor. It was found that the prevalence of diabetes in this study was about twice as high as that reported in a 1987 survey in Tai wan. The discrepancy may be due to different screening methods and ass essment periods. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.