This analysis estimates the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in French adults participating in the ObEpi (obesity epidemiology) 2012 survey and also proposes a description of that population, according to comorbidities, treatments and sociodemographic factors related to the disease.

A self-administered questionnaire was posted to 20,000 households from the Kantar Health panel. In total, 25,714 adults aged≥18 years and representative of the French population completed the survey between January and March 2012.

The prevalence of T2DM was 5.5±0.3% (95% CI) in this representative sample of the adult French population. Average age of patients was 65.9 years; 55% were men. Mean body mass index was 29.9kg/m² (men: 29.4kg/m², women: 30.6 kg/m²; P<0.01); the prevalence of obesity was 43.1% (men: 39.9%, women: 47.1%; P<0.01). Patient-reported treatments for comorbidities were frequent: high blood pressure, 59.1%; dyslipidaemia, 59.9%; myocardial infarction/angina pectoris, 9.7%; revascularization, 7.8%; heart failure, 7.4%; sleep apnoea, 8.3%; and osteoarthritis, 10.7%. With regards to known treatments, 81.4% of patients were taking oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs), and 15.3% were using insulin therapy. Also, 18.8% of diabetic respondents reported financial hardship.

T2DM remains a disease of major concern: compared with the non-diabetic population, all parameters surveyed showed unfavourable ratings, particularly for women.