Prevalencia de diabetes tipo 2, intolerancia a la glucosa y diabetes provisional en El Guarco, Cartago

diabetes mellitus type 2 is one of the main public health problems worldwide, affecting to 5-7% of population. to determine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (dm), glucose intolerance (gi) and provisional diabetes (po), attended in the health center of el guarco-cartago. medical files from all adults 15-75 year-old (excluding pregnant and diabetics) which glucose levels were evaluated after 12h of fasting in the health center of el guarco-cartago during 1998 were revised. demographic and anthropometric data, individual history of chronic disease were registered. glucose intolerance and provisional diabetes were defined as serum glucose level between 110-126 mg/dl and levels >126 mg/dl, respectively. serum glucose levels <110 mg/dl were considered as normal. the prevalence of diabetes mellitus was estimated based on the diagnosis indicated in the medical file. he prevalence of dm, gi and po was 4.2%, 1.3% and 0.2% respectively. the association analysis showed that the risk of gi and dm increase significantly with age. obese adults (bmi30) have a risk 3.7 times higher (ic 95% 2.09-6.84) to develop dm than those adults with normal weight. likewise, obese adults have a risk 3.2 times higher (ic 95% 1.02-13.5) to develop gi than those adults with a bmi between 18.5 - 24.99. the prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 2 in the population under study was higher than the reported by costa rica. on the contrary the prevalence of gi was lower than the reported in other countries. this study showed that the prevalence of dm and gi trend to increase with both age and the obesity grade.