Risk factor analysis in self-reported diabetes in a rural Kerala population.
OBJECTIVE
To find the prevalence of self-reported diabetes mellitus (DM) in rural Kerala.


METHODS
Interview schedule was used to collect the information on pre-designed and pre-tested proforma. Self-reported DM was taken as outcome measure. All these patients were diagnosed by their respective physicians and were on anti-diabetic drugs. Body weight was measured to the nearest 1 kg using bathroom scale; while height was measured using a nonstretchable tape to the nearest 1 mm. Standard classification of obesity and waist circumference was used.


RESULTS
The present cross-sectional study was carried out in the Venganoor village of Kerala. Four hundred and sixty four subjects, 64.4% women and 35.6% men, were selected randomly. Nearly half of the subjects were in the age range of 25-54 years, while about one-third of the subjects were over 55 years. Among the men, 38.5% were ever smokers, while 5.5% were in the habit of consuming alcohol. 27.8% of the subjects were found to be obese, while 20.3% of the subjects reported raised waist circumference. The level of physical activity in the majority of the subjects was either sedentary or mild. On multivariate analysis, increasing age was found to be significantly associated with self-reported diabetes (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.04-1.09). The other factors namely sex, smoking habit, alcohol use, obesity, waist circumference and physical activity were found to be statistically nonsignificant.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of self-reported diabetes was found to be 13.1% and that it was seen to be associated with increasing age.
Tiwari
Rajnarayan R
RR
Deb
Pankaj K
PK
Debbarma
Aghore
A
Chaudhuri
Rupali
R
Chakraborti
Amita
A
Lepcha
Mickyla
M
Chakraborti
Gita
G