Abstract:
The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of diabetes
mellitus (DM) and metabolic syndrome (MS) among adults aged above 20 years
in Point Pedro and Karaveddy MOH areas of Jaffna district. This was a
community based cross sectional descriptive study. A total of 115 subjects were
included in this study using multistage random sampling. Forty eight
percentages (56) of samples were males. The prevalence (95% confidence
interval) of DM for adults aged ≥20 years was 15.7% and it was 12.5 and 18.6%
among males and females respectively. Difference in prevalence of DM between
males and females was calculated using Chi-square test. It was not significant
(p=0.36). Of the total population 8.7% had impaired fasting glucose level, and it
was 7.1 and 10.2% among males and females respectively. Of the diabetic subjects
33% were previously undiagnosed. Overall, 24.4% had some form of
dysglycaemia, and it was 19.6% among males and 28.8% among females. There
was a linear relationship between the age and percentages of DM (𝑅
2
=0.987,
p=0.0001). The subjects in the age group of 70-79 and 60-69 years showed high
percentages of diabetes (33.3% and 26.9% respectively). DM was more common
among obese (33.3%) than overweight (13.3%) and normal individuals (15.5%).
MS was present in 14 out of 115 subjects. The prevalence (95% CI) of MS of
overall, males and females were 12.2%, 3.5%, 20%, respectively. Difference in
prevalence of MS between males and females was calculated using Fisher’s exact
test. It was significant (p=0.009). The subjects in the age group of 40-49 and 50-
59 and 60-69 years showed higher proportion of MS (21.4%, 35.7% and 28.6%,
respectively). Proportion of central obesity was 36.5% in general population and
was higher in females (61%) than in males (10.7%). Hypertension was high in the
diabetics (61.1%) than in general population (20.9%). Of the total population
79.1% had dyslipidaemia, and it was 83.3% among the diabetics. Decreased HDL
level was observed in dyslipidaemia. About 17.4% of general population had both
hypertension and dyslipidaemia while it was observed in 44.4% of diabetics.
These findings present an alarming situation on the two important health
conditions among the people of Jaffna. These preliminary prevalence data can be
utilized to conduct a further detail study to determine the prevalence of two
conditions in Jaffna District.
