Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in elderly men aged 65 to 84 years in eastern and western Finland.

We studied the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in men aged 65 to 84 years in Finland. The study sample consisted of 763 men, the survivors of the Finnish cohort of the "Seven Countries Study" first examined in 1959. The participation rate in the present survey was 94%. Blood glucose, fasting and 2 h after a 75-g oral glucose load, was determined from capillary blood. Current WHO criteria for diabetes mellitus were used. The mean fasting blood glucose level, adjusted for age and body mass index, was higher in east than west Finland. It rose with age in both areas. The prevalence of diabetes was 38% in the east and 36% in west Finland. About one-third of the men had impaired glucose tolerance. In the age group 75 to 79 years, the prevalence of diabetes was 65% in the east and 50% in the west. No systematic variation in the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance with age was found. The mean levels of body mass index decreased with age in the same way in men with diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and normal glucose tolerance. Body mass index was not higher in men with diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance than in men with normal glucose tolerance.