The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus amongst suspected persons in Agbor, Delta State, Nigria, and its relationship with age and gender was studied. Two hundred suspected subjects comprising of 100 males and 100 females of ages 30 and above who were referred to Government Hospital, Owa-alero, Agbor, were screened using a Glucose meter (Randokit) following standard procedures prescribed by the producer. Individuals whose fasting blood sugar levels were above 180mg/dl after three visits were considered to be diabetic. Results indicate that 118 subjects out the suspected 200 were found to be diabetic representing a total prevalence rate of 59%. The risk of developing diabetes mellitus was also found to be increasing with increasing age with females being more susceptible to developing the disease than females. Those of age 30-50 years old had incidence rates of 9.1% and 56.86% for males and females respectively, as those 51-70 years old had incidence rates of 48.39% and 82% for males and females respectively while those 71 years and above had incidence rates of 59.26% and 100% for males and females respectively. The development of diabetes mellitus in Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria is therefore strongly associated with increasing age and females at all age brackets above 30 are at higher risk of developing the disease than their male counterparts.
