Prevalence of dysglycemia and its associations with age and body mass index among community dwelling adults in a developing country

Dysglycemia includes prediabetes and diabetes. We aimed to study the prevalence of dysglycemia, and its associations with age and body mass index (BMI) among community dwelling adults in Sri Lanka. The prevalence of dysglycemic state (FPG > 100 mg/dL) and its associations with age and BMI in males and females were estimated. The association between gender and glycemic status in different BMI ranges and age groups were estimated. The optimal cut-off points of BMI to determine the risk of dysglycemia in both genders were calculated. Prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes of females were 25.3% and 16.4% and of males were 26.2% and 17.4% respectively. Dysglycemia showed a significant positive correlation with age in both genders and a significant positive correlation with BMI in males (p < 0.05). Aging (OR = 1.05, CI 1.02–1.08, p < 0.001) and increasing BMI (OR = 1.10, CI 1.05–1.15, p < 0.001) of males and aging (OR = 1.04, CI 1.02–1.06, p < 0.001) of females are significantly associated with dysglycemia. The optimal cut-off point of BMI for males was 22.86 kg/m2 (sensitivity 76.6%, specificity 53.9%) to determine the risk of dysglycemia. Four out of ten adults in the screened population were dysglycemic. An increase in BMI is significantly associated with dysglycemic status in males compared to females. The recommended cut-off value of BMI as 23 kg/m2 for South Asian population to categorize overweight individuals has an adequate sensitivity to recognize dysglycemic adult males but not the females in this community.