Prevalence of Diabetes Among Community-Living Older Persons in the Philippines: The FITforFrail Study

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of diabetes among Filipino older persons living in the community. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional analysis was done on a random sample of persons 60 years and older from the Focused Interventions for Frail Older Adults Research and Development Program (2018-2019). A diagnosis of diabetes was established by self-reported physician’s diagnosis or if the person was on any antihyperglycemic drugs. RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported diabetes was 20.5%, with no difference in age, sex, education, or body mass index between older persons with and without diabetes. The presence of 2 or more comorbidities was significantly more common among older persons with diabetes (p<0.001). Visual impairment (p<0.01), hypertension (p<0.001) and hyperlipidemia (p<0.001) were more frequent among those with diabetes. CONCLUSION: Diabetes is prevalent among community-living older Filipinos. Therefore, effective public health measures for diabetes prevention and management are needed for the ever-growing older population, who are at the highest risk for morbidity and mortality.