Prevalence of diabetes in rural Victoria David Simmons a,b, * , Anne McKenzie b , Simon Eaton c , Jonathan Shaw d , Paul Zimmet d a Waikato Clinical School, University of Auckland, Private Bag 3200, Pembroke Street, 3200 Hamilton, New Zealand b Department of Rural Health, University of Melbourne, Shepparton, Vic., Australia c Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust, North Shields, UK d International Diabetes Institute, 250 Kooyong Road, Caulfield, Vic., Australia Received 15 December 2004; received in revised form 24 March 2005; accepted 9 April 2005 Available online 8 June 2005 Abstract Aims: To compare the prevalence of diabetes in adults in small and medium sized towns in a part of rural Victoria Materials and methods: Participants were usual residents, aged 25 years, from randomly selected households in the crossroads undiagnosed disease study (CUDS: six small rural towns and their regional center in rural Victoria). Response rates to an initial census at the household and attendance at a subsequent biomedical examination involved were 70% and 61% (1454), respectively. All non-diabetic participants had an oral glucose tolerance test. Results: Prevalence of diabetes, IGT, IFG were 7.3 (5.5–9.5)%, 6.9 (5.1–9.9)% and 3.2 (2.0–4.7)% respectively in the regional center and 8.9 (6.9–11.1)%, 4.9 (3.5–6.7)%, 3.0 (1.9–4.5)% in the Shire Capitals. Overall, 31/118 (26.3%) of those with diabetes were previously undiagnosed. Most (83.9%) of those with undiagnosed diabetes remembered having been screened for diabetes in the previous 2 years. Overall screening rates for diabetes were higher than across Victoria as a whole. Conclusions: The prevalence of diabetes has probably doubled over the last 15 years in this area. Undiagnosed diabetes is less common than expected, possibly as a result of a more vigorous approach to screening in general practice and in spite of the lower numbers of GPs in the area. # 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Type 2 diabetes; Rural Health; Australia; Impaired glucose tolerance; Access; Screening Few diabetes prevalence studies have taken place in Australia. Recently, AusDiab [1] showed a high prevalence of diabetes among adults (aged 25 years) across Australia (men, 8.0%; women, 6.8%) [1]. The only two prior studies in non-indigenous Australians were the 1981 Busselton study in a rural town in Western Australia [2], and a 1991 rural Victorian study [3]. These studies found the proportion with undiag- nosed diabetes to be 48.9, 26.5, and 52.9%, respectively [1–3]. The crossroads undiagnosed disease study (CUDS), was established to compare the prevalence of various chronic diseases, including www.elsevier.com/locate/diabres Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 70 (2005) 287–290 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +64 7 839 8899; fax: +64 7 834 3615. E-mail address: simmonsd@waikatodhb.govt.nz (D. Simmons). 0168-8227/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2005.04.004