Endocrine Abstracts

Aims: Postmenopause is associated with unfavorable metabolic disturbances and might be related to increase the risk of diabetes. Identification of undiagnosed diabetes and at-risk individuals may allow to initiate earlier management and to prevent diabetic complication. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and related risk factors in postmenopausal women.

Methods: This study was based on data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), conducted during 2011-2012 by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. This survey is a cross-sectional and nationally representative study of noninstitutionalized civilians using a stratified, multistage, clustered probability sampling design. From the 16,576 participants, data for 2,210 postmenopausal women were included in the analysis.

Results: The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes in Korean postmenopausal women was 6.8%. They were older, more obese, under educated and the prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidemia was higher than the women without diabetes. The menarche age was later, but the age at menopause, breast feeding, oral contraceptive did not show significant difference. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that waist circumference over 80 cm (odds ratio [OR] 2.623 [95% CI 1.517-4.534]), hypertension(1.847 [1.120-3.045]), dyslipidemia(2.109 [1.314-3.383]) significantly increased the risk of undiagnosed diabetes. Moreover, women who had a two, or three components of metabolic syndrome were significantly associated with the risk of undiagnosed diabetes.

Conclusion: The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes in Korean postmenopausal women was 6.8%. The components of metabolic syndrome were significantly associated with the risk of undiagnosed diabetes. Therefore individualized approach to postmenopausal women with components of metabolic syndrome is needed to early diagnose and manage diabetes.