THE PREVALENCE OF DIABETES MELLITUS AND ITS ASSOCIATED SYMPTOMS IN THE ELDERLY POPULATION OF UNIVERSITY CAMPUS PESHAWAR

Abstract

Objective:  To find the frequency of diabetes with associated symptoms in elderly people aged 60 and above residing on the university campus in Peshawar.

Materials & Methods:  This community-based descriptive cross-sectional study included a total of 103 elderly people aged 60 and above, selected from the university campus in Peshawar by simple random sampling from January to April 2023. Random blood sugar was measured by using a glucometer. Those having a random blood sugar of greater than 200g/dl and those who were having signs and symptoms of diabetes and were on diabetic medications were considered diabetics Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect the data. Data was entered and analyzed on SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013.

Results: The prevalence rate of diabetes in the study population was 32% (33/103). Diabetes was more common among females than males. The mean RBS value was 195.48 mg/dl (SD 43.78 mg/dl, 95% CI 180.55-210.42) in the diabetic population (32.04%, 33/103). Of the total diabetic population, 57.58% (19/33) had controlled diabetes. The diabetes was more controlled in males than females.

Keywords: Elderly, Diabetes, random blood sugar