Risk factors for type 2 diabetes in postmenopausal New Zealand women: a cross-sectional study

To describe the diabetes risk profile of 3377 postmenopausal New Zealand women.

Participants took part in a face-to-face interview with a research nurse. Medical history, lifestyle information, height, weight, and random capillary blood glucose were recorded. Risk scores for type 2 diabetes were later calculated for each participant using a modified diabetes 'risk analysis' tool developed by the United States Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).

157 women had diagnosed diabetes (4.4%) and were not therefore included in the risk analysis. Over half of the women (1843 of 3377) were at 'high risk' for the development of type 2 diabetes when assessed using the DPP diabetes risk analysis tool; 38.6% of participants were overweight, 25.6% were obese, 32.5% were physically inactive, 16.9% had a family history of diabetes, and 6.5% had random capillary blood glucose recordings of 7.5 mmol/L or greater.

Risk factors for type 2 diabetes are prevalent in this group of postmenopausal New Zealand women. To appropriately target lifestyle modification programmes, these findings (in conjunction with recent evidence that lifestyle modification can reduce diabetes onset) highlight an urgent need to identify those women with risk factors before they develop type 2 diabetes.