Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing globally. Risk scores are useful tools for identifying individuals at risk of developing the disease. There is a dearth of data on the diabetes risk profile and indices of adiposity in young adult Nigerians.

Objective: The study was aimed at determining the prevalence of some adiposity indices and predict the 10-year risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in a young adult population in Umudike, South East, Nigeria using the FINDRISC tool.

Data source: This study was carried out in Umudike, Nigeria and involved a total of 165 participants (90 males and 75 females), aged 18-30 years.

Methods: Blood pressure measurements and anthropometric readings were taken based on standard procedures and body mass index was determined. Diabetes risk scoring was done using the validated Finnish Diabetes Risk Scoring (FINDRISC) tool.

Results: Overweight and obesity was found in 27.9% and 3.6% of the population while hypertension was found in 18.8% of the population. The females had a higher mean BMI (24.7 ± 2.9 vs 22.0 ± 2.4), waist circumference (77.7 ± 7.8 vs 75.9 ± 5.9), waist-to-height ratio (0.47 ± 0.05 vs 0.43 ± 0.03), risk score (6.1 ± 4.0 vs 4.3 ± 3.3) and a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity, abdominal obesity, waist-to-height ratio and high risk score relative to males.

Conclusion: The study reported a 66.7% low risk, 24.2% slightly elevated risk, 8.5% moderately elevated risk and 0.6% high risk of developing diabetes mellitus within the next 10 years. There is an urgent need for lifestyle modification in the population with particular emphasis on the females. This will prevent a potential boom in diabetes prevalence in the future.

Summary: This population based study was carried out amongst young adults in Umudike, Nigeria. The study was carried out to assess the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus using the validated Finnish Diabetes Risk Scoring (FINDRISC) tool. The young adults in the study population had a 9.1% moderate to high risk of developing diabetes with a female preponderance of diabetes risk. An urgent lifestyle modification is recommended.

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