Trends in the burden of type 2 diabetes and its risk factors in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background:

Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with the highest burdens of type-2 diabetes (T2D) in the world. The aim of this study was to analyse the changing trends in the burden of T2D and the impact of its major risk factors in Saudi Arabia from 1990 to 2019.

Methods:

Data for T2D come from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Decomposition analysis was used to decompose the long-term burden trend into population size, population age, prevalence, and disease severity.

Results:

In 2019, T2D in Saudi Arabia caused 245 548.4 DALYs (95% UI: 187 706.3–316 976.4), with age-standardised incidence and prevalence increasing by 63.5% (95% UI: 53.8%–73.5%) and 75.7% (95% UI: 65.4%–87.1%), respectively. There was a gradual increase in the proportion of burden caused by T2D in the age group below 40 years from 1990 to 2019. T2D DALYs due to population size, ageing, and prevalence all increased to varying degrees, while T2D DALYs resulting from disease severity gradually decreased. The greatest increase in T2D DALYs has been linked to environmental particulate pollution over the past 30 years, and obesity is the main cause of T2D DALYs in Saudi Arabia.

Conclusions:

The burden of T2D in Saudi Arabia has been increasing continuously over the past three decades, with a trend towards younger age. The decrease in disease burden due to disease severity is partially offset by population size and ageing. Considering the continued increase in the burden of T2D, it is necessary to control T2D risk factors to curb the growth of the T2D disease burden in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords:

• attributable risks
• disability-adjusted life years
• global burden of disease
• type 2 diabetes

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all individuals who participated in the study.

Conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows: ZS designed the research; JH performed the data analysis; JH drafted the original manuscript; JH, ZS, BH, and SL critically revised the manuscript; ZS provided administrative support for the project and had primary responsibility for the final manuscript; JH, BH, and SL accessed and verified the data; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

Publicly available datasets were analysed in this study. This data can be found here: http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-2019. The programmes used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/16089677.2024.2311494.