First stratified diabetes prevalence data for Republic of Macedonia derived from the National eHealth System

Abstract

AIMS: To find diabetes prevalence of diagnosed cases, stratified by gender, age, and urban/rural municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia, based on data derived from the National eHealth System. METHODS: The National eHealth System was searched for all patients with ICD-10 diagnoses E10-E14 in their electronic healthcare records. Data records from the National eHealth System contained patient's gender, date of birth, place of living, and ICD-10 code. RESULTS: Total number of diagnosed diabetes cases was 84,568: 36,119 males (42.7%) and 48,449 females (57.3%). Diabetes prevalence of diagnosed cases in population 20-79years was 5.0% (n=78,233: N=1,562,203), prevalence was higher in females than in males (4.6% vs 3.4%): in rural than in urban municipalities (5.6% vs 3.6%), and was highest in the age group 60-79years (14.6%). CONCLUSION: These were the first findings on diabetes prevalence of diagnosed cases in the Republic of Macedonia derived from the National eHealth System, stratified by age, gender, and urban/rural municipalities. These data could enable more precise estimations of the total diabetes prevalence in the country, including both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases, and further analysis of the risk factors leading to higher diabetes prevalence in females and rural municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia.