Cumulative incidence of self-reported diabetes in Croatian adult population in relation to socioeconomic status and lifestyle habits

The aim of this study was to determine the 5-year cumulative incidence of self-reported diabetes mellitus in relation to various socioeconomic and lifestyle factors in Croatian adult population. The analysis included 2909 participants of the Croatian Health Cohort Study (CroHort) aged 20-79 years (median 55, interquartile range 43-67; 69% women) with no history of diabetes. There were 163 new cases of diabetes (5-year cumulative incidence 5.6%), without significant differences according to sex. Significant predictors of diabetes were age, body mass index, waist and hip circumference in bivariate logistic regression, and being married or living in partnership (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.08-2.28; p = 0.018), body mass index (OR =1.11, 95% CI 1.07-1.14; p < 0.001) and age (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03; p = 0.004) in multivariate model. Our results indicate that approximately 1% of the Croatian adult population develops diabetes each year. Association of living in partnership with higher diabetes incidence requires further investigation.