Diabetes in the UK West indian community: the Wolverhampton survey

A survey was carried out to determine the prevalence of known diabetes amongst West Indians living in Wolverhampton. Two hundred and fifty-one West Indians with diabetes were identified from a computerized register, which records all diabetic patients in the Wolverhampton area attending either the hospital diabetic clinic or general practitioner mini-clinics, and from questionnaire data obtained through local general practitioners. An estimated 4.4% of the Wolverhampton population are of West Indian origin determined by the 1981 census, giving a prevalence of known diabetes of 2.2% compared with 1.2% in the indigenous UK white Caucasian population. Only 4% of these patients were truly insulin-dependent but 38% were insulin-treated, 43% were on oral hypoglycaemic agents and 19% on diet alone. Only 1.6% were diagnosed below the age of 20 years, with peak frequency of diabetes occurring in the age group 45-64 years. Thirty-eight percent of all patients were obese, 40% were hypertensive, but only 4% had a history of angina or myocardial infarction. In UK West Indians non-insulin-dependent diabetes is common and is predominantly a disease of middle age, whereas insulin-dependent diabetes is relatively uncommon.