Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in elderly people in Canada: report from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Aims: to estimate the age-specific prevalence of diabetes mellitus in elderly people in Canada, and to examine the effect of method of ascertainment on the estimation of prevalence. Method: three measures of diabetes were used in a secondary analysis of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging—a 1991 nation-wide cross-sectional study of the prevalence of dementia in a sample of 10 263 elderly subjects (aged 65–106 years). Results: of community-dwelling subjects, 10.3% reported diabetes. Supplementing this information with clinical reports and random plasma glucose measurements increased the prevalence to 12.0% in the community, 17.5% in institutions and 12.4% overall. Conclusion: diabetes is common in elderly people, although the prevalence falls in the very elderly. The method of ascertainment influences estimation of prevalence.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: