Abstract

Aims Studies show that white men have a higher prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus than women at a given age and BMI, but equivalent standardized data for other ethnic groups in the UK are sparse. Methods This cross-sectional study analysed UK Biobank data from 489 079 participants to compare the prevalence of diabetes mellitus across four major ethnic groups including: 471 700 (96.4%) white, 7871 (1.6%) South Asian, 7974 (1.6%) black and 1534 (0.3%) Chinese participants, before and after standardizing for age, socio-economic status (SES), BMI and lifestyle factors including physical activity, TV viewing, fruit and vegetable intake, processed meat, red meat, oily fish, alcohol intake and smoking. A subgroup analysis of South Asians was also undertaken. Results Crude diabetes prevalence was higher in men across all four ethnicities. After standardizing for age, SES, BMI and lifestyle factors, a significant sex difference in diabetes prevalence persisted in white (men 6.0% vs. women 3.6%), South Asian (21.0% vs. 13.8%) and black individuals (13.3% vs. 9.7%) (P 0.0001); there was a non-significant difference between Chinese men and women (7.1% vs. 5.5%) (P = 0.211). Sex differences persisted across South Asian subgroups. Conclusions Men across a range of major ethnic groups including white, South Asian and black, have a higher prevalence of diabetes compared with women of similar age, BMI, SES and lifestyle in the UK.