A Retrospective Study on the Prevalence of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a major and rapidly growing health burden in Pakistan, yet contemporary district-level information on the relative distribution of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains limited. This retrospective cross-sectional study described the case mix of T1DM and T2DM and examined age- and sex-related patterns among patients with laboratory-confirmed diabetes in District Dera Ismail Khan. Records from four private diagnostic laboratories were reviewed for the period 1 January to 31 December 2025. A total of 804 eligible patients were included. Diabetes status was supported by fasting blood glucose or glycated hemoglobin results, whereas diabetes type was taken from the physician diagnosis documented in the laboratory record. Descriptive statistics and Pearson chi-square tests were used. T2DM accounted for 792 of 804 cases (98.5%), while T1DM accounted for 12 (1.5%). Males represented 57.2% of patients and females 42.8%. Diabetes type was not associated with sex (χ²=0.006, p=.937). Age showed a strong association with diabetes type (χ²=457.123, p<.001): all six patients aged 0–17 years had T1DM, whereas among those aged 18–34 years, 6 had T1DM and 34 had T2DM; all patients aged 35 years or older had T2DM. The 50–64-year group was the largest age category (41.0%). These findings show a pronounced predominance of T2DM among diagnosed patients attending private laboratories and a clear age-related separation of diabetes type. Because the sampling frame contained diabetic patients only, the reported percentages represent the distribution of diabetes types within the clinical sample and should not be interpreted as population prevalence estimates.