Prevalence, incidence, mortality, and quality of care of diagnosed diabetes in Greenland

AIMS: To estimate prevalence, incidence, and mortality of diagnosed diabetes in Greenland, and to evaluate quality of diabetes care among men and women, and patients living in towns and settlements.

METHODS: This study was designed as an observational cross-sectional study based on review of data obtained from the electronic medical record (EMR) in Greenland. All permanent residents of Greenland registered with a diabetes diagnosis in the EMR (N = 1498) were included.

RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence of diabetes was 2.19% as of Nov 30, 2018. The age-standardized incidence was 147 per 100,000 per year and the age-standardized mortality was 62 per 10,000 person-year among people aged ≥0 years old (Dec 1, 2017 to Nov 30, 2018). Quality of diabetes care was slightly higher among women compared to men concerning proportion with annual measurement of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) (89.9% vs. 85.8%; p < 0.015), blood pressure (83.7% vs. 76.7%; p < 0.001).The only difference observed in quality of care among settlements and towns was lower proportion tested for microalbuminuria within one year in settlements (50.3% vs. 40.1%; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The age-standardized prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in Greenland was 2.19% and the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among adults aged ≥20 years was 3.7%. Only minor differences in quality of care related to gender and place of residence were observed. Further improvements in quality of care are warranted.