Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and Its Associated Factors in Bangladesh: Application of Two-level Logistic Regression Model

This study intends to explore the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and its associated factors in Bangladesh. The necessary information was extracted from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2011. In bivariate analysis, Chi-square test was performed to assess the association between selected covariates and diabetes status. A two-level logistic regression model with a random intercept at each of the individual and regional level was considered to identify the risk factors of DM. A total of 7,535 individuals were included in this study. From the univariate analysis, the prevalence of DM was found to be 33.3% in 50–54 age group for instance. In bivariate setup, all the selected covariates except sex of the participants were found significant for DM (p < 0.05). According to the two-level logistic regression model, the chance of occurring DM increases as age of the participants’ increases. It was observed that female participants were more likely to have DM. The occurrence of DM was 62% higher for higher educated participants, 42% higher for the individuals who came from rich family and 63% higher for the individuals having hypertension. The chance of developing diabetes among overweighed people was almost double. However, the individuals engaged in physical work had less chance to have DM. This study calls for greater attention of government and other concerned entities to come up with appropriate policy interventions to lower the risk of DM.