Time trends in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus: ten year analysis from southern India (1994-2004) on 19,072 subjects with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE To assess the time trends in the prevalence of diabetes at our Centre from 1994-2004 (N: 19,072 individuals) on the following parameters: age group, sex, rural or urban area and individuals with freshly diagnosed diabetes versus known diabetes. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING Analysis of data from electronic medical records at a referral Endocrine and Diabetes Centre in Southern India. METHODS We have employed the period prevalence method and person-time risk to express the results. The concept of person-time risk can be estimated as the actual time-at-risk in years that all persons contributed to a study. The person-time can be estimated for each patient when a patient changed from diabetic free to diabetic patient. This can be captured for each patient from the variable onset of first diagnoses as a diabetic patient. Thus person-time is employed to derive information on the rate at which people acquire the disease. RESULTS Between 1994 and 2004 however there is an increasing trend in the number of individuals in the young, particularly the 18-34 year group. Similarly there is a steadily increasing pattern in both urban and rural areas; the number from rural areas tended to increase compared to urban areas. The number of women with diabetes tended to increase over the 10-year period. CONCLUSION Between 1994 and 2004 among persons with diabetes who presented at our Centre, there was a trend toward more number of younger persons, particularly women from rural areas.