Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its association with life style factors among adults in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

Background: The National Urban Diabetes Survey in India (2010) has reported an age standardized prevalence of diabetes to be 12.1%. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is known to vary with lifestyle factors. Aims and objectives: The present study was conducted to find the prevalence of diabetes mellitus among adults and its association with certain life style factors like current smoking, alcohol intake, saturated fat intake and physical exercise. Material and methods: This present study was a cross sectional and analytical study carried out in 900 adults in the age group of 30 years and above during June 2014 to December 2014. A random blood sugar test was conducted among the selected study subjects and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus was estimated using the cut off level of 180 mg%. Those subjects who were already known to be diabetics with or without treatment were also classified as diabetics. The findings were analyzed using Epi-info software 7 version (CDC, Atlanta, USA). Results: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the present study was found to be 12.4%. Significantly higher proportion of current smoking was found in diabetics (17.0%) than in non-diabetics (6.1%). Current alcohol intake was significantly higher in diabetics than in non-diabetics (8.0% vs 2.4%); current saturated fat (ghee) intake was similar in diabetics and non-diabetics (5.4% and 5.5% respectively). Paradoxically higher proportion of physical exercise was found in diabetics (15.2%) than in non-diabetics (5.1%). Conclusion: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus showed significant association current smoking and current alcohol intake.