The Mauritius and Rodrigues Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Study

Mauritius and Rodrigues are islands in the south-eastern part of the Indian Ocean. Major changes in lifestyle have been seen during the last fifty years, including less physical activity and introduction of a westernised diet. In parallel, the disease panorama has changed from high infant mortality and infectious diseases to lifestyle-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The population in Mauritius are descendants to immigrants from South Asia, Africa and China, i.e., approximately 60% of the world population are represented. Mauritius is probably the only developing country that has followed the development of non-communicable diseases (NCD) and associated risk factors over a long time-period and continues to do so.

In the mid-eighties, the Mauritian government initiated a study on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, in collaboration with WHO and international experts. Altogether seven population-based surveys have been performed between 1987 and 2021, and approximately 39 000 (!) examinations have been recorded. The intention is to repeat the survey every fifth year.

The ethnicities of the participants have been 71% South Asians (India/Pakistan), 24% Creoles (Africa) and 5% Chinese, which reflects well the ethnical distribution of the population. Previous participants were followed up in 2007 and 92% were successfully traced. Studies have also been performed on the neighbouring island Rodrigues where the majority of the population are Creoles. During the follow-up survey in 2010, 97% of the 9 700 participants were traced.

At each survey, information was given and an individual consent form was signed. See attached the local (in Mauritius) ethical approval and consent form from the Mauritius survey 2021.