Epidemiological Transition of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Rural South West Cameroon

Aims: To determine the prevalence and 10 years risk of type-2 diabetes mellitus in rural English speaking South West Cameroon. Methods: Between April and June 2018, we conducted community screening campaigns in 6 English speaking rural communities of Cameroon. We adapted the Finish Diabetes Association Type 2 diabetes risk assessment tool to enable us classify participants as low or high risk cases. Results: In a sample of 983 participants aged ≥30 years, we found 37 (3.8%) persons with type 2 diabetes (12 existing and 25 newly diagnosed) and 149 (15.1%) persons at high risk of developing diabetes within 10 years. We estimated that within 10 years 65 (6.9%) new cases of diabetes will emerge from the study population. Older participants (54 - 87 years) were 2.5 times (AOR 2.5, CI: 1.0, 6.2) more likely to have diabetes compared to younger (30 - 44 years) participants. The risk of developing diabetes within 10 years was statistically significantly increased among participants who were semi-active, older, had a high BMI, had a family history of diabetes or had high systolic blood pressure. Conclusions: Our study identified a brewing diabetes crisis in rural Cameroon, confirming the recent International Diabetes Federation warnings of an impending rural diabetes crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is therefore an urgent need for measures to avert the situation such as expanding the urban-focused diabetes service to rural areas.