ORIGINAL ARTICLE Prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in Sardinia Sa. Muntoni Æ L. Atzori Æ R. Mereu Æ A. Manca Æ G. Satta Æ A. Gentilini Æ P. Bianco Æ A. Baule Æ G. M. Baule Æ S. Muntoni Received: 31 October 2008 / Accepted: 12 November 2008 / Published online: 24 December 2008 Ó Springer-Verlag 2008 Abstract We aimed at updating the prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and of undiagnosed (UD) and diagnosed diabetes (DD) among the Sardinian popu- lation. The survey was carried out from 2002 to 2005 on 4.737 subjects aged 20–80? years. IFG was diagnosed when blood glucose was 110–125 mg/dl; UD when it was C126 mg/dl in the absence of personal history of diabetes; DD when personal history was positive, irrespective of blood glucose value. Prevalence rates (%) were adjusted for age by direct method to the Italian 2001 population. IFG was diagnosed in 11% of the sample (9.88% in females and 12.24% in males); UD was found in 5.65% (5.20 and 6.15%, females and males, respectively), DD in 8.72% (6.74 and 10.05%); and total diabetes (TD), i.e. the sum of UD ? DD, was 14.37% (12.93 and 15.07%, females and males, respectively). In Sardinia, in about 5 years there was an increase of IFG (?61.8%), UD (?56.9%), DD (?55.7%), and TD (?57.9%). Thus Sardi- nia participates in the worldwide increase in prevalence of diabetes and its microvascular, macrovascular, and socio- economic consequences. Keywords Diagnosed diabetes Á Epidemiology Á Impaired fasting glucose Á Sardinia Á Undiagnosed diabetes Introduction The frequency of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes is steadily increasing in the world. The incidence of type 1 diabetes has increased dramatically in both low and high incidence countries [1]. Type 2 diabetes is not only rising in fre- quency, but also advancing the age of onset, so that it is behaving as the emerging epidemic in youth [2]. Type 2 diabetes is very often a consequence of obesity, which in its turn is nowadays in epidemic form [3], mainly as a conse- quence of sedentary lifestyle and hypercaloric nutrition [4]. Micro- and macro-angiopathic complications of diabetes are likewise increasing, so that type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome are defined risk equivalents, i.e. hav- ing before a coronary event the same risk as nondiabetic coronary patients [5]. In Sardinia, type 1 diabetes has a very high incidence [6], because a strong genetic proneness [7] interacting with environmental factors, among which nutritional habits could explain both the high [8] and increasing [9] incidence worldwide. The prevalence of both types of diabetes in Sardinia was evaluated in 1988 in the age classes 20–59 years, and its increasing frequency was related to the increasing body mass index (BMI) [10]. The results of further epidemio- logical research on diabetes and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in Sardinia were assessed in 1998–2001 and pre- sented in 2003 [11]. Sa. Muntoni (&) Á L. Atzori Á R. Mereu Department of Toxicology, Unit of Oncology and Molecular Pathology, University School of Cagliari, via Porcell 4, 09124 Cagliari, Italy e-mail: smuntoni@unica.it Sa. Muntoni Á S. Muntoni Center for Metabolic Diseases and Atherosclerosis, The ME.DI.CO. Association, Cagliari, Italy A. Manca Á A. Gentilini Á P. Bianco Á A. Baule Á G. M. Baule Third Medical Division, Unit for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, SS, Annunziata Hospital, Sassari, Italy G. Satta Department of Medical, Internistic and Anestesiological Sciences, Chemical-Clinical Laboratories Unit, University School of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy 123 Acta Diabetol (2009) 46:227–231 DOI 10.1007/s00592-008-0081-4