Measuring the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in a Greek primary health care district

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a common disease in developed countries,but in Greece national figures on its prevalence are lacking. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the burden of known diabetesmellitus through its estimation in the area of responsibilityof the Spili Health Centre, based on the health informationsystem that had been established in Primary Health Care in ruralCrete. METHOD: The diagnosis of diabetes was retrospectively documented byreviewing all medical records (n=47151) at the Spili HealthCentre and its five regional outposts during the period 1/6/1988–1/7/1993.The diagnostic criteria of WHO were used to establish the diagnosis. RESULTS: After excluding the patients who had died, we found 210 patientswith diabetes mellitus. Thirty cases were evaluated with OGTTbecause of mild but not diagnostic elevations of fasting plasmaglucose, on more than one occasion. The prevalence of diabetesafter age and sex standardization of that for the European populationwas estimated at 1.52% (1.31% in males and 1.68 in females). CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that 1) the role of the GPs and one appropriateinformation system in measuring the prevalence of known diabetesmellitus are now considered important within the Greek context;2) diabetes mellitus seems not to be a rare disease in ruralCrete. The estimated prevalence appears to be similar to theprevalence rates reported in other areas of rural Greece. Keywords. Prevalence, diabetes mellitus, Primary Health Care, rural Crete, Greece.