The prevalence and associated factors of type 2 diabetes in rural areas of Ningbo, China

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of T2DM and its risk factors in rural areas in Yinzhou District of Ningbo, China. A cross-sectional study with 4832 participants aged 18 years or older was conducted during the period of March 2013 to May 2013. Among the participants, 4760 completed a self-administered survey and physical examinations. Data collected included demographic characteristics, lifestyle, medical history, anthropometric measurements, and clinical assessment. After an overnight fasting of at least 10 h, participants also underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for diagnosing T2DM. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors associated with T2DM. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was used to assess the prediction ability of the models. The age-standardized prevalence of T2DM was 7.86% (95% confidence interval (95% CI = 7.10–8.62%), and the crude prevalence was 15.36%. In multivariate logistic regression models, age (≥ 65), obesity, and hypertension were the common risk factors of T2DM for both males and females. The AUROC of the T2DM model was 0.735 (95% CI = 0.709–0.762), indicating the accuracy of the model in predicting T2DM. Old age, obesity, hypertension, and elevated triglycerides and LDL-C were the risk factors for T2DM. And the predictive power of ROC curve we established for predicting T2DM had a good accuracy. Therefore, diabetes health education and early screening programs should be developed and strengthened for the prevention of T2DM in rural areas.