Epidemiology of diabetes in mainland France

The statistical analysis of French Healthcare's database, containing total reimbursements to affiliates and a listing of delivered drug prescriptions in the form of specific drug codes, allowed us to update data on the epidemiology of diabetes. This study, performed during the first trimester of 1999 on the entire population of metropolitan France, found an overall prevalence of 2.78 % for diabetes in all affiliates of the regimen (Regime general) stricto sensu (3.06 % in the general population), 0.41 % corresponding to diabetic treated exclusively with insulin (0.44 % in the overall population) and to 0.12 % receiving both insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents concomitantly (0.13 % in the general population). The average age of diabetics, irrespective of the treatment they were receiving, was 63.1 years with a sex ratio M/F of 1.04. These findings confirm epidemiological forecasts which had predicted a significant increase in the prevalence of diabetes over the past few years. The study also confirmed data from the medical literature concerning geographic disparities in the epidemiology of this disease except for the results obtained in the north of France, a region generally thought to have a lower prevalence of diabetes, and which was found to have a prevalence equal to even greater than the national average.