Higher prevalence of risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus and subsequent higher incidence in men

BACKGROUND: This study investigates risk factors and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM) in both sexes of a northern European population.

METHODS: A total of 14,223 randomly selected men and women were studied from 1976 to 1978. Patients with diabetes (self-reported type 2 DM or non-fasting plasma glucose >11.1 mmol/l) were excluded. Some 6154 women and 4733 men were studied and followed up in 1981-1983 or in 1991-1994. The significance of risk factors was examined by multiple logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: Initially, a higher proportion of men than women had high, non-fasting blood glucose and triglycerides. Significantly more men (242, 5.4%) than women (152, 2.5%) developed type 2 DM. The odds ratio (OR) for developing diabetes with a BMI above 30 kg/m(2) compared to a BMI of 20-25 kg/m(2) was 8.1 in women and 6.3 in men; for a non-fasting plasma glucose of 8.4-11.0 mmol/l compared to a plasma glucose of 5.5-6.4, the ORs were 7.8 in women and 4.7 in men. The OR for developing diabetes in persons with a non-fasting triglyceride level above 2.0 mmol/l compared to 1.0-2.0 mmol/l was 1.8 in both sexes; women with non -fasting triglycerides below 1.0 mmol/l had an OR of 0.4.

CONCLUSION: In a randomly selected northern European population, significantly more men than women develop type 2 DM.