Epidemiology of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus among hill tribe adults in Thailand

A community-based cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the prevalence of and determine factors associated with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among hill tribe adults aged 30 years and over. Data were collected from the target hill tribe people living in the 30 selected villages in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand. A total of 2365 people were invited to participate in the study; 65.9% were female, 72.4% were aged 40–69 years, 0.9% regularly received preventive healthcare, and only 41.2% understood Thai. The overall prevalence of undiagnosed T2DM was 7.5%. After adjusting for age and sex, two factors were found to be associated with T2DM: triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Those with high triglyceride levels were 2.80 (95% CI 1.99–3.94) times more likely to be suffering from T2DM than those with a normal triglyceride level. Those with low HDL-C levels were 1.65 (95% CI 1.16–2.34) times more likely to be suffering from T2DM than those with normal HDL-C. Appropriate public health interventions should be developed and implemented to reduce T2DM by providing regular preventive healthcare, educating patients on DM prevention and control, and encouraging regular exercise and reduced consumption of fatty food.