BACKGROUNDStroke is now the most prevalent and debilitating disease affecting diabetic population in China. The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of stroke and metabolic disorders in the middle-aged and elderly Chinese with type 2 diabetes.

METHODSA total of 4 629 subjects with type 2 diabetes (males: 1 917; females: 2 712) aged ≥ 40 years from Shijingshan district, Beijing, China from November 2011 to August 2012 were included in the study. Data on demographic information, lifestyle, history of diabetes mellitus, stroke, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were collected. The oral glucose tolerance test or a standard meal test was performed. Non-fatal stroke was reported by the subjects. The 2-tailed test was used, and P < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant.

RESULTSPrevalence of stroke in the subjects with type 2 diabetes was 5.5%. The prevalence of smoking, overweight or obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia was 41.0%, 65.8%, 67.4%, and 52.0% in males, and 2.2%, 65.5%, 69.5%, and 57.6% in females. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that increased age, hypertension, diabetic duration, and overweight or obesity were positively correlated with stroke in the population with type 2 diabetes, whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level was negatively correlated with stroke. After adjustment for age and gender, the odds ratio values of stroke in subjects having 1, 2 or ≥3 of 4 risk factors, including smoking, overweight or obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia, were 2.302 (95% CI: 0.789-6.712), 4.089 (95% CI: 1.470-11.373), 6.023 (95% CI: 2.176-16.666), compared with subjects without any of the above 4 risk factors.

CONCLUSIONSThe prevalence of stroke was higher in middle-aged and elderly Chinese with type 2 diabetes than that in the general population. With the aggregation of risk factors, the prevalence of stroke increased.