Age at diagnosis
A latency period of several years is assumed between the onset and diagnosis of diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. In the case of a decreasing trend, the average age at which diabetes is diagnosed in a population can indicate an earlier diagnosis on the one hand, but also an earlier onset of the disease on the other hand. While earlier onset, particularly of type 2 diabetes, may be associated with increased excess mortality (Sattar et al. 2019), early detection of diabetes allows appropriate treatment of diabetes to begin.
Key messages
- In Germany, the average age at diagnosis for people with known diabetes in 2021 is around 53 years.
- The average age at diagnosis of diabetes is higher in women than in men.
- The average age of diagnosis of diabetes is higher among persons in the low education group than among persons in the medium or high education group.
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By state
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By gender
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By age
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By education group
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Results
The average age at diagnosis in 2021 for people with known diabetes is 52.9 years and is higher for women (55.1 years) than for men (51.0 years). People in the low education group (55.3 years) are on average older at the time of diagnosing diabetes than people in the medium or high education group (50.4 years). There are no regional differences in average age at diagnosis of diabetes.
Conclusion
In Germany, the average age at diagnosis of diabetes is around 53 years and is higher in women than in men. This gender difference in average age at diagnosis was also observed in a previous study for the year 2015 (Jacobs et al. 2020). A temporal comparison with results from an RKI study based on data from the year 2010 and related to the age range 18 to 79 years (Du et al. 2015) shows no differences in the average age of diagnosis among women of the same age range in 2021. In contrast, the average age at diagnosis has declined in each age group among men. The decreasing age at diagnosis over time in men could be associated with an earlier onset of the disease or with an earlier diagnosis. The observed lower age at diagnosis among people in the high education group may be associated with better risk perception or greater health awareness.
Show more information on methodology and data sources
Definition
The indicator age at diagnosis is defined as the average age at which a physician-diagnosis of diabetes is made among people with known diabetes (including gestational diabetes).
Operationalisation
Self-reported information on the following question by people with known diabetes:
Reference population
German-speaking resident population in Germany with known diabetes aged 18 years and older
Data source
Nationwide RKI interview survey GEDA 2021/2022-Diabetes among people with known diabetes based on a special screening procedure of the target group of people with known diabetes (landline and mobile numbers) and based on telephone interview.
Number of cases
For the indicator age at diagnosis r, data from people with known diabetes aged 18 years and older are evaluated:
- GEDA 2021/2022-Diabetes: n=1503
Calculation
- Description: For the indicator, the figures for total, women and men, as well as stratified according to age group, residential area and level of education are given as long as the number of cases for the figure is ≥ 5 and the statistical uncertainty in estimating the figure is not considered too great (i.e. coefficient of variation ≤33.5%).
- Stratification: The geographical classification of the residence of the participating person was carried out by east and west (east = former East Germany, including all of Berlin; west = former West Germany, not including West Berlin). Educational status was determined using the CASMINindex, which takes information on both schooling and vocational training into account and allows a categorisation into a lower, middle and upper educational group.
- Weighting: In order to correct deviations in the surveys from the respective underlying reference population due to different willingness to participate or sampling probability, weighting factors were used when calculating the indicator. This adjusts the GEDA 2021/2022-Diabetes survey to the population structure of the reference population with regard to gender, age and education as of December 31, 2019. The distribution structure of people with diagnosed diabetes from the nationwide RKI survey (GEDA 2019/2020-EHIS) was used for the adjustment, since the data from the population statistics of the Federal Statistical Office do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the group of people with diagnosed diabetes in the German-speaking resident population aged 18 and over.
Data quality
The RKI survey GEDA 2021/2022 provides representative results for people with known diabetes from the German-speaking resident population of Germany aged 18 years and over. As with all population-based studies, it can be assumed that seriously ill and institutionalised people are underrepresented. Furthermore, all information is based on self-report. A memory distortion (recall bias) is possible for the self-reported age at the time of diabetes diagnosis. Temporal comparisons with earlier RKI surveys are limited due to methodological differences.
