Associations Between Sociodemographic Factors and Diabetes Incidence: A Retrospective Nationwide Cohort Study

Abstract

Objectives: This study is to calculate diabetes incidence in the Thai population and identify associations between sociodemographic factors and diabetes incidence. People aged 20 and over who had not previously received a diabetes diagnosis from Thai National Health Examination Survey V (NHES V) and used public health services registered with the National Health Security Office Database were included in the study. Methods: The Cox proportional hazards model was used for identifying the associations. The study included 10,203 participants, categorized into three groups based on their blood sugar level at the start of the cohort: 1. normal blood sugar level; 2. prediabetes; and 3. suspected diabetes—a total of 7,482, 2,185, and 536 people, respectively. Results: In the 7-year follow-up from 2013 to 2020, there were 769 newly diagnosed diabetes patients, representing an incidence of 10.6 (95% CI 9.8–11.4) per 1,000 population years. Sociodemographic factors associated with diabetes incidence were the southern region (adjusted HR 0.74, p=0.02; Ref: central region) and highest educational attainment (adjusted HR 0.69, p=0.01; 0.74, p=0.01; and 0.70, p=0.04 for lower secondary, higher secondary, and bachelor’s degree and above, respectively; Ref: primary level). Conclusions: This study showed that the population residing in the southern region and those who completed at least secondary education had fewer chances of developing diabetes compared to their counterparts.