Awareness, treatment and control of type 2 diabetes among Chinese elderly and its changing trend for past decade

BACKGROUND: This study aims to evaluate the awareness, treatment, control rate of type 2 diabetes and its risk factors among Chinese community elderly, and also examine the changing trend for the past decade. METHODS: We conducted two population-based cross-sectional studies in a representative urban area of Beijing in 2001 and 2010 respectively, using with the same method. A total of 2,277 participants (943 male, 1,334 female) in 2001 and 2,102 participants (848 male, 1,254 female) in 2010 were recruited. All the participants diagnosed with diabetes were included in this study. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes was 21.4 % and 24.8 % in 2001 and 2010 respectively. Among participants with diabetes, 74.2 % were aware of the condition, 51.0 % were treated, 20.1 % well controlled the condition in 2001, and the corresponding rates were 78.5 %, 69.3 %,15.9 % in 2010 respectively. Higher education level and a positive family history were related to better management of diabetes, while obesity and alcohol drinking showed a reverse direction. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence and awareness of diabetes stayed high for the past decade. The treatment increased 18.3 % while the control rate decreased among community elderly for the past 10 years. It’s urgent to carry out effective measures to raise awareness, treatment, and control rate of diabetes in order to avoid growing disease burden in China.