Introduction:

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease with high prevalence, which affects the quality of life of the population that suffers from it, since identifying the risk of developing it allows the implementation of strategies to delay its onset and prevent complications.

Objective:

To identify the level of risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Colombian Caribbean population.

Methods:

This is a quantitative, cross-sectional study. two hundred forty eight individuals from the urban area of a village in Santa Marta, Colombia, participated in the first semester of 2018, through a sampling stratified by sectors. The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score test was used to collect information, as well as to measure abdominal circumference, weight, height, and blood pressure. For the analysis of the numerical variables, Student's t-test was applied for independent variables and chi-square was applied for the categorical variables.

Results:

Of the total of participants, 36.29% had slightly high risk and 8.87% moderate high risk. The population group with the highest risk was 58 to 65 years (34.78%). Statistical significance was found between the risk of developing diabetes in the subsequent 10 years and the variables overweight and obesity, increased abdominal circumference, personal history of hyperglycemia, consumption of antihypertensive drugs, and personal history of type 2 diabetes mellitus in parents, siblings, and children.

Conclusions:

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in the studied population was slightly elevated in a high percentage of the population.

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