[Nationwide multicenter study on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Brazilian population].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in type 2 diabetic (DM2) outpatients from different regions of Brazil.


METHODS
We studied 2,519 randomly selected patients, from 11 hospitals, 2 endocrine and one general public care clinics from 10 cities. Overweight was defined as body-mass index (BMI) > 25 and obesity as BMI > 30 kg/m2. Glycemic control (GC) was evaluated by GC index (GCI = patient's HbA1 or HbA1c/upper limit of normal for the method x 100).


RESULTS
39% of the population studied was male, the mean age was 58.8 +/- 11.6 y, the duration from clinical diagnosis of DM2 was 9.0 +/- 7.3y, and BMI was 28.3 +/- 5.2 kg/m2. No measurements of BMI were recorded from 265 patients (10.5%). Patients from the Northeast presented lower BMI as compared with those from the Midwest, Southeast and South areas, respectively (26.4 +/- 4.7 vs. 27.9 +/- 4.8 vs. 29.2 +/- 5.1 vs. 29.4 +/- 5.4 kg/m2; p < 0.001). A greater prevalence of obesity was observed in the Southeast and South areas as compared to the Northeast (p < 0.001), as well as in the female group, respectively (69% vs. 31%; p < 0.001). Normal weight patients presented lower GCI. Patients being treated with two or more oral drugs and an association of insulin plus oral drug presented greater BMI values than those being treated with diet, oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin p < 0.001. The BMI of patients treated by a specialist did not differ from those treated by a generalist.


CONCLUSIONS
75% of our sample was out of adequate BMI and 30% was obese. The percentage of patients with overweight and obesity was comparable to those found in similar European studies but still lower than those found in the USA. The prevalence of obesity in diabetic patients was three times higher than in the overall Brazilian population according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Gomes
Marilia de Brito
MB
UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ. mariliab@uerj.br
Giannella Neto
Daniel
D
Mendonça
Eurico de
Ed
Tambascia
Marcos A
MA
Fonseca
Reine Marie
RM
Réa
Rosangela R
RR
Macedo
Geísa
G
Modesto Filho
João
J
Schmid
Helena
H
Bittencourt
Alcina Vinhaes
AV
Cavalcanti
Saulo
S
Rassi
Nelson
N
Faria
Manuel
M
Pedrosa
Hermelinda
H
Dib
Sérgio Atala
SA
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight; D015995:Prevalence