High awareness of diabetes in the health care system in Greenland measured as a proportion of population tested with glycated haemoglobin within 2 years

BACKGROUND: Sixty years ago diabetes was almost non-existent in Greenland and until the beginning of this century awareness of diabetes was quite minimal. A high prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes has been reported in repeated population surveys. Increased focus on diabetes has been made a priority within the health care system since 2008, and in 2010 glycated haemoglobin was introduced as a diagnostic tool to further facilitate the diagnosis of diabetes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the age and gender specific use of glycated haemoglobin in 2014 and 2015, as an indicator of diagnostic activity and awareness of diabetes, and to estimate the prevalence of diagnosed pre-diabetes and diabetes among adults in Greenland aged 20–79 years of age. METHODS: The study was performed as an observational, cross sectional register study based on information gleaned from the electronically laboratory system used in Greenland including all patients tested with glycated haemoglobin at least once in 2014 or 2015. RESULTS: A total of 10,127 patients were tested with glycated haemoglobin in 2014 or 2015 corresponding to 18.1% of the whole population. Among adults aged 20–79 years 9506 patients were tested corresponding to 24.0% of the total adult population. More females (32.5%) than males (16.5%) aged 20–79 years old were tested (p < 0.001). The prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and high risk pre-diabetes among adults aged 20–79 years was 4.3 and 6.8% respectively. CONCLUSION: In conclusion use of glycated haemoglobin is widely used in the health care system in Greenland indicating a high awareness of diabetes in the population and by the health care system. Still, awareness of undiagnosed diabetes remains an important issue and additional strategies targeting males under 70 years old must be considered.