Correlation of diabetes mellitus and body weight of adults above the age of 30 years in a medical facility in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by insufficient insulin production or ineffective pancreatic secretions. In Ghana, the prevalence of DM was estimated to be 6.3% amongst men and women older than 30 years living in the Greater Accra region. The disease can be determined by various means including the use of the multistix that assesses the presence of glucose in urine.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 100 subjects were sampled made up of 65% males and 35% females whose urine samples were verified using multistix.

RESULTS: Most (63%) of the subjects diagnosed with the disease fell within the age ranges of 60-69 years and 70-79 years, thus establishing the fact that the incidence of the disease increases with increasing age and increasing body mass index (BMI) over above 25kg/m2 . Some (44%) had a family history of diabetes. Other factors such as the socioeconomic status (SES) categories, physical activity levels and eating habits of the respondents played different roles in the occurrence of the disease.

CONCLUSION: The sex of the individual, however, did not have a major impact on the occurrence of the disease. This study confirmed that overweight body (BMI≥25kg/m2 ) especially of older ages above 50 years of have very strong link with the prevalence of diabetes mellitus.