386,003 new people develop type 2 diabetes mellitus (the most common type) in Spain every year, representing an incidence of 11.58 cases per 1,000 person-years. The study, participated in by the University of Oviedo, shows that the incidence of diabetes increases with age and is higher among men (13.4 cases/1000 person-years) than women (9.9 cases/1000 person-years). These differences were not however identified among people over 75. The results from the study - entitled di@bet.es - were coordinated by Gemma Rojo of the Malaga Regional Hospital, and have been published in Scientific Reports journal. 

 

Doctors Elías Delgado and Edelmiro Menendez - professors at the University of Oviedo - were responsible for researching the North 1 area, which includes Asturias and Galicia. The other six areas covered by the study are North 2: Basque Country, Navarre and Cantabria; Northeast: Catalonia and Aragon; Central: Madrid, Extremadura, Castile La Mancha and Castile-León; East: Valencia and the Balearic Islands; South: Andalusia and the Canary Islands. In total, there are an estimated 7,000 new adults who develop diabetes each year in Asturias.

 

The article concludes that the main factors that affect the development of diabetes are: the existence of pre-diabetes, age, male gender, obesity, central obesity, weight gain and a family history of diabetes. On this, Dr Elías Delgado, the University of Oviedo professor and head of the Diabetes Department at the Asturias Central University Hospital (HUCA), says that "the increase in the prevalence of diabetes around the world is due to many factors and can be partly attributed to ageing of the population, more sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy eating profiles and rising obesity levels".

 

Another conclusion in the article is that a substantial proportion of people who have diabetes go undiagnosed. "In Europe, this group represents 37.9% of total diabetes. Whilst this is one of the lowest in the world, it still means that 22 million people are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease". In Spain, the di@bet.es study found that about half of the detected cases were of undiagnosed diabetes. 

 

The first phase of the project was carried out between 2008 and 2010 from a sample of 5,072 adults aged over 18 from the Spanish population, randomly selected from the National Health System and 110 Primary Care Centres. 

 

The results were published in 2012 and showed a 13.8% prevalence (around 4 million people had type 2 diabetes). This is the second phase of the study which ran from 2016 to 2017. The same population group was re-evaluated, and 2,048 people who did not have diabetes in the initial study were studied. The main risk factors related to developing diabetes were also examined.

 

The study forms part of the National Diabetes Strategy and was carried out by CIBERDEM (Biomedical Research Centre in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders) of the Carlos III Health Institute (Department of Science and Innovation) in partnership with SED (the Spanish Diabetes Society). 

 

Reference article

Rojo-Martínez, G., Valdés, S., Soriguer, F. et al. Incidence of diabetes mellitus in Spain as results of the nationwide cohort di@bet.es study. Sci Rep 10, 2765 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59643-7