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Prevalence and correlates of diabetes in older Taiwanese
Author(s) -
Tsai Alan C.,
Liou JennChang,
Ho Bruce S.C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a579-d
Subject(s) - diabetes mellitus , gerontology , medicine , environmental health , demography , endocrinology , sociology
The study examined the rate of diabetes and its impacting factors in >53‐year‐old men and women in Taiwan. Data were from the “Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan”, and were generated by in‐home, face‐to‐face, interviews on 4440 respondents in a population‐based cross‐sectional study in 1999. The rates of “self‐reported” diabetes were 13.1% for men and 16.4% for women. Aging was associated with an increase in the rate of diabetes. The rates were 9.5, 15.4, 17.2 and 13.4% for 53–59, 60–69, 70–79 and >80 year‐old groups, respectively. Overweight‐obesity was positively associated with diabetes. The rates were 10.7, 13.8, 17.3 and 19.9% for desirable weight, underweight, overweight and obese, respectively. No correlations were observed with years of formal education or physical activity. Frequent alcohol‐drinking (>4 times/wk) was negatively associated with the rate of diabetes while the opposite is true with heavy smoking. Among the dietary factors, frequent consumption of fish (3–5 times/wk) and soy food (>6 times/wk) was associated with reduced risk of diabetes while habitual tea drinking (>6 times/wk) was associated with increased risk of diabetes. Results suggest that the rate of diabetes is alarmingly high among older men and women in Taiwan and that overweight‐obesity and heavy smoking are the major controllable impacting factors. Funding for survey was provided by the government of Taiwan.