Abstract
We have been carrying out an epidemiological survey of circulatory diseases in two rural communities in Hokkaido, Japan, since 1977. Glucose tolerance tests were performed on 1, 996 inhabitants who were selected randomly in 1977 and 1978. From these results, these subjects were classified into diabetes mellitus (DM), BDM, and NGT, according to the JDS criteria (1982). Cases of diabetes that occurred during the eight-year period were classified as progressive (NGT to DM, BDM to DM) and others were classified as non-progressive.
Over the eight-year period 107 cases were classified as progressive and 1, 781 as non-progressive. The incidence of diabetes was 7.48/1, 000 persons/year. Age, obesity, blood pressure, pre-, 60-min and 120-min plasma glucose and serum triglyceride levels were all higher in the progressive group than in the non-progressive group. Even after adjustments for age, obesity, plasma glucose value, and sex, were calculated, triglyceride and blood pressure levels remained higher in the progressive group. Also, significant predictors of diabetes progression were age, blood pressure, and obesity by multiple logistic regression analysis and discriminant analysis. Factors associated with the occurrence of diabetes were aging, obesity and hypertension, and these factors should be considered of primary concern in the prevention of diabetes.
