Type 2 diabetes in rural and urban population: diverse prevalence and associated risk factors in Bangladesh.
OBJECTIVE
To describe differences in prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus with its associated risk factors between rural and urban populations in Bangladesh. Diagnostic criteria [fasting blood glucose (FBG) and oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT)] were compared and reviewed for both populations.


METHODS
A total of 1555 subjects from urban and 4757 from rural communities (age > or = 20 years) with similar cultural and ethnic backgrounds were randomly selected in a cross-sectional survey. FBG values were determined from all and 2-h post-glucose capillary blood samples were determined after a 75-g oral glucose load for a selected number (urban 476, rural 1046).


RESULTS
A higher prevalence of diabetes was found in urban (8.1%) compared with rural populations (2.3%). Age, sex and waist-to-hip ratio for men were significant risk factors for both urban and rural subjects following fasting and 2-h post-glucose values adjusted for a number of confounding variables. Poor agreement was observed between FBG and OGTT for both urban (kappa 0.41) and rural (kappa 0.40) areas.


CONCLUSIONS
A higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the urban population was observed compared with rural subjects despite similar body mass indexes (BMI). Differences in obesity, waist/hip ratio or hypertension failed to explain the increasing occurrence of T2DM in the urban population.
Hussain
A
A
Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, Department of International Health, University of Oslo, Norway. akhtar.hussain@medisin.uio.no
Rahim
M A
MA
Azad Khan
A K
AK
Ali
S M K
SM
Vaaler
S
S
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014504:Urban Health; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio
D001786:Blood Glucose