Predicted nine-year risk of diabetes among professional divers: a prospective study

The purpose of this study was to assess diabetes predictive score for professional divers followed-up in one medical centre in France.

This prospective study, performed during 2013, included professional divers who were followed in a French maritime medicine centre. Data about their professional history of diving and dive profiles were collected. The clinical and biological data collected included: age, waist circumference, biometrics, body mass index, smoking status, blood pressure, practicing sports, glycaemia, triglyceridaemia, total cholesterolaemia, HDL and LDL cholesterolaemia. The predicted 9-year risk of diabetes was calculated according to the DESIRE score. Data were analysed using Epidata® software, by Pearson c2 test or by Fisher's exact test, by analysis of variance or Kruskal-Wallis test, and by Spearman correlation coefficient.

Out of the 64 deep-sea divers taking part in the study, diabetes risk was estimated for 60 divers. The predictive 9-year risk of diabetes was higher than 10% for 31.7% of the divers and higher than 30% for 6.7% of the divers.

In France, people with diabetes have been declared definitely medically unfit to dive. The interest to assess the prevalence of risk factors and the predictive risk of diabetes arises from the need for prevention.