Socio Economic Factors Affecting to Prevalence of Diabetes in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Diabetes is a group of illnesses characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body’s ability to produce and /or use insulin. Diabetes can have a significant impact on quality of life and can reduce life expectancy. It was the 8 th leading cause of global death in 2015 and is expected to advance to be the 5th cause by 2030. Importantly, the low- and middle-income countries are more vulnerable to diabetes and related deaths. There were 1,198,100 total cases of diabetes in Sri Lanka in 2017 and one in 12 adults in the country suffers from diabetes causing one of the leaders in the global movement striving to beat one of the largest health threats impacting the world today. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify socio economic factors affecting to prevalence of diabetes among adults. The survey was based on primary and secondary data. Primary data were obtained from a cross sectional survey conducted through a structured questionnaire in the Attanagalla division and 60 participants were participated to the study. Descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation and logistic regression were used to analyze data using SPSS and Excel. Prevalence of diabetes was significantly higher among marriage person. (χ2=11.050, P=0.001) Prevalence of diabetes was higher among, who is working fulltime than retired persons. (P<0.001, OR=1.296, 95% CI, 0.269 - 6.255) Diabetic prevalence is significantly higher among persons who educated up to O/L than graduates. 45% of participant who were suffering from diabetes get action to prevent diabetes. The research has identified urban area people suffer from diabetes than rural area people. Both male and female had same probability to have diabetes and smoking habits and overweight are the major risk factors for prevalence of diabetes.