Hoge prevalentie van diabetes mellitus type 2 bij Turken en Marokkanen

Aim: To examine the differences between Caucasian subgroups with regard to the prevalence of known type 2 diabetes, diabetes care and patient outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed using retrospective data registered by general practitioners. The setting was Dutch general practice. Data were collected on 5252 subjects aged 40-75 years of Dutch (85.7%), Turkish (5.4%) or Moroccan (8.9%) origin. Main outcome measures were the prevalence of known type 2 diabetes, adequacy of diabetes care, glycaemic control and cardiovascular risk factors. Results: Prevalence of known type 2 diabetes was 4.8% in Dutch, 9.9% in Turkish (adjusted OR 2.81) and 12.1% in Moroccan (adjusted OR 3.21) patients. No differences were observed regarding adequacy of diabetes care between ethnic subgroups. Dutch diabetes patients were older, had better glycaemic control and had hypertension more often than Turkish or Moroccan patients. Turkish patients had lower total cholesterol levels and Moroccan patients had lower blood pressure than the other groups. There were no differences in BMI. Conclusion: There are considerable differences in prevalence of known type 2 diabetes between different subgroups of the Caucasian race. In addition, there appear to be differences in cardiovascular risk factors between these subgroups. Further research is warranted into the origins of these differences, and this should include studies on the heterogeneity of type 2 diabetes as well as studies into socio-culturally determined factors.