The Prevalence of Diabetes in a Swedish Population of 280,411 Inhabitants: A report from the Skaraborg Diabetes Registry
- Bo Berger, MD,
- Gunnar Stenström, MD, PHD,
- Yue-Fang Chang, PHD and
- Göran Sundkvist, MD, PHD
- Department of Medicine, Skövde Central Hospital Skövde
- Department of Medicine, Lidköping Hospital Lidköping
- Department of Endocrinology, Malmö University Hospital Malmö, Sweden
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Bo Berger, MD, Department of Medicine, KSS, S–541 85 Skovde, Sweden
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of known diabetes in a Swedish county (Skaraborg) and to evaluate capture-recapture methods for validation of the diabetes prevalence.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Four sources were used to find known diabetic patients: 1) the Skaraborg Diabetes Registry (SDR), a case-finding inventory 2) an administrative hospital registry 3) a registry for the retinopathy screening program, and 4) a pharmacy prescription inventory. The capture-recapture method was applied to various combinations of sources to determine the prevalence of diabetes.
RESULTS The completeness of the SDR was 88.4 ± 1.3%, indicating a diabetes prevalence of 3.20 ± 0.08%. When the SDR was not used as one of the sources, the estimated prevalence varied between 2.2 and 4.5%.
CONCLUSIONS A case-finding registry is important in reliably estimating the prevalence of diabetes.
- Received May 16, 1997.
- Accepted December 1, 1997.
- Copyright © 1998 by the American Diabetes Association
