Elsevier

Diabetes & Metabolism

Volume 41, Issue 1, February 2015, Pages 55-61
Diabetes & Metabolism

Original article
Type 2 diabetes mellitus in France in 2012: Results from the ObEpi survey

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabet.2014.11.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Aim

This analysis estimates the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in French adults participating in the ObEpi (obesity epidemiology) 2012 survey and also proposes a description of that population, according to comorbidities, treatments and sociodemographic factors related to the disease.

Methods

A self-administered questionnaire was posted to 20,000 households from the Kantar Health panel. In total, 25,714 adults aged  18 years and representative of the French population completed the survey between January and March 2012.

Results

The prevalence of T2DM was 5.5 ± 0.3% (95% CI) in this representative sample of the adult French population. Average age of patients was 65.9 years; 55% were men. Mean body mass index was 29.9 kg/m2 (men: 29.4 kg/m2, women: 30.6 kg/m2; P < 0.01); the prevalence of obesity was 43.1% (men: 39.9%, women: 47.1%; P < 0.01). Patient-reported treatments for comorbidities were frequent: high blood pressure, 59.1%; dyslipidaemia, 59.9%; myocardial infarction/angina pectoris, 9.7%; revascularization, 7.8%; heart failure, 7.4%; sleep apnoea, 8.3%; and osteoarthritis, 10.7%. With regards to known treatments, 81.4% of patients were taking oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs), and 15.3% were using insulin therapy. Also, 18.8% of diabetic respondents reported financial hardship.

Conclusion

T2DM remains a disease of major concern: compared with the non-diabetic population, all parameters surveyed showed unfavourable ratings, particularly for women.

Introduction

The global prevalence of diabetes has seen a constant increase over recent decades. The number of people worldwide with the disorder has almost doubled, from 153 million in 1980 to 347 million in 2008 [1]. In 2011, diabetes became the leading long-term disease in France, with 1,885,382 cases, exceeding the 1,861,113 cases of cancers. This was the largest increase seen in 2010 (+6.5%), ahead of that for cardiovascular diseases (+5.3%) [2].

The vast majority of cases of diabetes mellitus are type 2 (T2DM). This is a result of the increasing prevalence of obesity [3], [4], [5] due to changes in lifestyle [6] and diet [7]. A sound understanding of the epidemiology of T2DM is therefore required, as this metabolic disorder can benefit from public policies of prevention.

Different approaches have been used to provide regular updates of the prevalence of diabetes, with analyses of its comorbidities and context of evolution. The public-health dimension of the disease has been the main concern of several campaigns in France conducted by the national health insurance fund (Caisse primaire d’assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés, CNAMTS) [8], [9], [10]. A number of epidemiological studies have addressed different issues, such as quality of care and management of associated cardiovascular risks [11], complications of diabetes [12], and patients’ perception of the disease and its impact on daily life [13].

The obesity epidemiology (ObEpi) surveys comprise six datasets recording the prevalence of obesity in the French population between 1997 and 2012. The data were collected every 3 years using the same methodology. In the ObEpi 2012 survey, the questionnaire included new questions regarding ongoing treatments for cardiovascular disease, dyslipidaemia and diabetes, and revealed that the prevalence of known T2DM is 2.2% in people of normal weight, 6.9% in overweight people and 16.0% in the obese population [14]. Detailed analyses of these data for the treatment of diabetes is of interest in light of the recent position statement of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) [15].

The primary objective of the present analysis was to estimate the prevalence of known T2DM in the general adult French population. Secondary objectives were to describe the associated comorbidities, treatments and sociodemographic factors related to the disease.

Section snippets

Methods

The ObEpi epidemiological surveys evaluated the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the French population every 3 years since 1997. The present analysis describes the population participating in the ObEpi 2012 survey (conducted in France between January and March 2012) that was treated for T2DM with hygiene and dietary measures and/or medical treatment.

Prevalence of T2DM

Of the 25,714 respondents aged  18 years, 1486 (5.8%; 95% CI: 5.5–6.1) reported ongoing treatment for diabetes (although treatment data for 135 people were not documented). This represents an estimated 2,860,000 cases of diabetes in France when extrapolated to the entire French population aged  18 years, according to the official 2010 French population data [17]. T1DM was reported by 71 individuals (4.8% of diabetes patients) and T2DM by 1415 respondents, corresponding to 95.2% of all diabetes

Discussion

This ObEpi survey estimated a prevalence of 5.8% for diabetes and 5.5% for known T2DM in 2012 in France; it also provided a description of the associated comorbidities, ongoing treatments and sociodemographic characteristics of the population with T2DM.

The prevalence estimated in the present analysis is in line with the most recently published data [18]. Reported prevalence rates for treated diabetes were 4.6% in 2006 [19], 3.95% in 2007 [20] and 4.4% in 2009 [10] for all types of diabetes.

Disclosure of interest

E. Eschwege: member of advisory board and speaker engagements for Novo Nordisk, Novartis and Roche. Consultation for the Institut national de Veille Sanitaire (National Institute of Public Health Surveillance) HAS/Commission de la transparence (Transparency Commission)/Groupe d’intérêt de santé publique (Public Health Interest Group).

A. Basdevant was a member of the advisory board for the ObEpi surveys for Roche; he received no remuneration.

Christine Moisan, MD, was an employee of Roche at the

Acknowledgements

The ObEpi surveys have been made possible thanks to the institutional support and funding of Roche SAS.

Funding: Medical writing assistance was provided by Potentiel d’Action (Olivier Galut, Isabelle Lawrence) and funded by Roche.

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