Retrospective study among primary care Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients within the city of Zliten, Libya, represented high incidence of early onset of disease diagnosis

Abstract

Purpose: The prevalence of diabetes in Libya is increasing. There is also concern that diabetes may be occurring at a greater frequency in younger adults, where longer disease duration could increase the risk of developing complications in later life. We describe the age of diagnosis and the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in a sample of Libyan patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), collected from the city of Zliten. Methods: The study was conducted in the Zliten Diabetes Center using data recorded from the first visit patients in 2010. A total of 903 patients (433 males and 470 females) with an average age of 52.93 ± 12.44 years (range 16–96 years) were available for the analysis. Results: Average duration of T2DM was 6.81 ± 6.58 years at the time of sampling. Percentages of early aged diagnosed patients were high, with 455/903 (50.39%) having been diagnosed ≤45 years of age. Men were 1.3 times more likely to have been diagnosed at an early age than females (95% confidence interval: 0.99–1.71; P = 0.0483). However, there was no association of age of diabetes diagnosis with major cardiovascular risk factors of glycosylated hemoglobin, cholesterol levels, or body mass index. Conclusions: This is the first recorded data on T2DM in this area. Our study shows that a high percentage of people with T2DM were diagnosed ≤45 years of age.