Epidemiology of diabetes mellitus in Croatia and worldwide

Abstract:

Diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial disease, which occurs in genetically susceptible individuals under the influence of environmental factors. Thus, in addition to individual risk factors, there are environmental, potentially modifiable risk factors for the disease. Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading public health problems in the world. In 2007, its global prevalence was 6% and expected to increase to 7.3% by 2025. Main complications, such as cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, diabetic foot, and amputation of lower limbs, are the major cause of both mortality and growing burden of diabetes care costs. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Croatia is 6.1% in the 18-65 age group. Since the disease is significantly more frequent in the older age, the total prevalence in adults is estimated to be 8.9%. Standardised incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus in Croatia is 8.87/100,000 (0-14 age group), with 9% annual increase. As the seventh leading cause of death, diabetes mellitus accounted for 2.53% deaths in Croatia in 2007.

Key words:
classification; diabetes mellitus; epidemiology; prevention