Prevalence of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus among Sami and non-Sami men and women in Northern Norway – The SAMINOR 2 Clinical Survey

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the prevalence of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among Sami and non-Sami men and women of rural districts in Northern Norway. The SAMINOR 2 Clinical Survey is a cross-sectional population-based study performed in 2012–2014 in 10 municipalities of Northern Norway. A total of 12,455 Sami and non-Sami inhabitants aged 40–79 years were invited to participate and 5878 were included in the analyses. Participants with self-reported T2DM and/or a glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) result ≥6.5% were categorised as having T2DM. Those with 5.7%≤HbA1c<6.5% were categorised as pre-diabetics. In men, the total age-standardised prevalence of pre-diabetes (37.9% vs 31.4%) and T2DM (10.8% vs 9.5%) were higher in Sami compared with non-Sami; the ethnic difference was statistically significant for both pre-diabetes (OR 1.42, p < 0.001) and T2DM (OR 1.31, p = 0.042). In women, pre-diabetes (36.4% vs 33.5%) and T2DM (8.6% vs 7.0%) were also more common in Sami than non-Sami; the differences in both pre-diabetes (OR 1.20, p = 0.025) and T2DM (OR 1.38, p = 0.021) were also statistically significant. The observed ethnic difference in the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) was a plausible explanation for the ethnic difference in the prevalence of pre-diabetes and T2DM.

KEYWORDS:

• HbA1c
• Norwegian
• indigenous
• native
• aboriginal
• ethnicity
• ethnic minority
• abdominal obesity
• waist-to-height ratio

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the participants of the SAMINOR Study, without whom our research would be impossible. The publication charges for this article have been funded by a grant from the publication fund of UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Geolocation information

Europe, Northern Scandinavia, Northern Norway.

Additional information

Funding

The SAMINOR 2 Clinical Survey was financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services; the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority; the Regional Research Fund of Northern Norway; the Sami Parliament; the Sami Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Mental Health and Substance Use; Finnmark, Troms, and Nordland county councils. UiT The Arctic University of Norway funded Naseribafrouei’s PhD scholarship as well as publication charges. The funding organs had no role in the analysis or preparation of the manuscript.