Background: Little research has been conducted on the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in underdeveloped areas in China, especially stratified into obesity and non-obese diabetes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of non-obese diabetes in an underdeveloped area in South China, Guangxi. Methods: Data derived from the Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey 2010–2012 involved a sample of 3874 adults from Guangxi. Questionnaires and oral glucose-tolerance tests were conducted, and fasting and 2-h glucose levels and serum lipids were measured. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess associated factors for non-obese diabetes. Results: 68.2% and 62.2% of instances of newly detected diabetes were those of non-obese diabetes based on BMI (NODB) and based on WC (NODW), respectively. The male sex, an age older than 50 years, lower education, hypertension, and hypertriglyceridemia were significantly associated with a higher risk of both NODB and NODW, while some associated factors for NODB were found different from those associated with NODW, and an interaction effect was found to increase the risk of NODW. Conclusions: Our study indicated that non-obese diabetes was highly prevalent in an underdeveloped area of South China. Non-obese diabetes should be considered for increased public attention in these areas.

We used a subsample of 1,256 adults aged 18 and above from an ongoing study, China Health and Nutrition Survey, to examine the prevalence of cardiometabolic problems in Guangxi, China. We collected anthropometric data in standard way, measured blood pressure with mercury sphygmomanometers. We also collected fasting blood samples and measured HbA1C, fasting glucose and lipids in fresh samples for the HbA1C and for the others with a Hitachi 7600 automatic analyzer. In 2009, the prevalence of hypertension was 19.7% in urban residents and 19.9% in rural residents (p>0.05). Urban‐rural differences in overweight were similar (20.3% and 21.9%, respectively) (defined as BMI≥25) with 26.6% and 24.9% reflecting central obesity (defined as waist circumference>88 in men or >80 in women) in urban and rural areas, respectively. The prevalence of diabetes was 5.5% in urban and 3.1% in rural. Overall, the prevalence of dyslipidemia was 46.2% and 43.9% in urban and rural areas, respectively. 30.9% of young adults aged 18–30 years old were dyslipidemia. Cardiometabolic problems increased rapidly in rural areas over the past decade to levels almost comparable with urban residents. This points to a need to focus on both urban and rural areas in China, the latter being neglected for noncommunicable disease prevention.This study was supported by NIH (R01‐HD30880) and Fogarty International Center, NIH (5D43TW007709).