Virtual Diabetes Register (VDR)

Published online: 30 September 2020

Note: The VDR algorithm was updated in 2017 resulting in a small reduction in the number of people estimated to have diabetes. It is important that the updated numbers are not compared with numbers derived using any previous version of the VDR. Any comparison may result in artificial and inaccurate trends.

Each year the New Zealand Ministry of Health releases national estimates of the prevalence of diabetes based on the VDR. The VDR is an important tool to monitor prevalence of diabetes and support national and local clinical quality improvements.

The VDR contains data about people suspected as having diabetes, identified through their use of diabetes health services. The VDR uses an algorithm to identify these people in data extracted from hospital inpatient and outpatient, laboratory test, and pharmaceutical dispensing data collections. The VDR is collated annually at the end of March. National and regional diabetes prevalence estimates are calculated based on the number of people on the VDR as at 31 December of the previous year – in this case 31 December 2019. People with diabetes who were deceased and those not enrolled in a PHO are excluded from the totals.

Virtual Diabetes Register 2017 revision

In 2016 the algorithm used to create the VDR was assessed against the Auckland TestSafe repository of actual glycaemic test results (for more information read the published article). As a result, improvements to the algorithm were made in early 2017 to create the latest version of the VDR. A comparison of the numbers from the old VDR and the latest version (v686) is shown in the chart below.

Number of people estimated as having diabetes, on the old VDR and the new VDR, 2005–2019

Number of people estimated as having diabetes, on the old VDR and the new VDR, 2005–2019

	Old VDR	New VDR
2005	137,815	136,660
2006	147,525	144,747
2007	158,478	154,334
2008	171,025	165,837
2009	182,745	176,389
2010	196,134	187,860
2011	210,759	200,235
2012	224,908	211,591
2013	238,890	220,866
2014	251,478	228,790
2015	260,458	236,073
2016	-	241,463
2017	-	245,680
2018	-	253,480
2019	-	263,938

Note: People who were either not enrolled in a PHO or deceased, as at 31 December of the relevant year, have been excluded.

It is important to note that numbers produced by the algorithm in the old VDR are now obsolete and should not be used, nor compared to the numbers produced by the new VDR algorithm. Please use the numbers published here or request updated numbers or datasets from [email protected].

Number of people in the Virtual Diabetes Register by DHB of domicile, 2010–2019

DHB of domicile	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Auckland	18,573	19,647	20,657	21,718	22,836	23,867	24,508	24,586	25,050	26,445
Bay of Plenty	9507	9917	10,241	10,433	10,537	10,330	10,391	10,722	11,169	11,626
Canterbury	18,103	18,706	19,467	20,075	20,664	21,261	21,959	22,531	23,344	24,023
Capital and Coast	9393	10,788	11,899	12,436	12,805	13,119	13,350	13,370	13,823	13,714
Counties Manukau	27,845	29,877	32,092	34,430	36,927	39,007	40,266	41,256	42,867	45,266
Hawke's Bay	6797	7080	7494	7865	8025	8181	8370	8719	8,836	9,113
Hutt Valley	5812	6575	7211	7467	7699	7866	7903	7885	8,126	8,441
Lakes	4340	4547	4793	4928	5178	5430	5589	5677	5,676	5,943
MidCentral	6814	7453	7797	7953	8120	8331	8446	8719	9,066	9,511
Nelson Marlborough	5282	5577	5686	5786	5933	6022	6080	6075	6,089	6,316
Northland	8515	8908	9605	10,425	10,734	10,844	10,952	11,115	11,319	11,625
South Canterbury	2763	2862	2969	3016	3040	3107	3150	3165	3,155	3,189
Southern	12,002	12,672	13,206	13,525	13,578	13,804	14,146	14,355	14,854	15,224
Tairāwhiti	2621	2919	3098	3241	3357	3444	3388	3349	3,349	3,549
Taranaki	6205	6347	6510	6597	6659	6767	6781	6804	6,977	7,032
Waikato	16,548	17,396	18,125	18,895	19,637	20,406	20,998	21767	22,800	23,579
Wairarapa	1919	2075	2198	2218	2228	2223	2199	2205	2,305	2,375
Waitemata	20,296	22,136	23,651	24,959	25,908	27,020	27,796	28173	29,131	31,153
West Coast	1195	1226	1213	1204	1192	1254	1305	1404	1,467	1,549
Whanganui	3045	3255	3420	3471	3533	3616	3744	3837	3,981	4,183
Unknown/Unassigned	285	272	259	224	200	174	142	113	96	82
Total	187,860	200,235	211,591	220,866	228,790	236,073	241,463	245,680	253,480	263,938

Note: People that were either not enrolled in a PHO or were not alive, as at 31 December of the relevant year, have been excluded.

Source: VDR Dec 2019 (v686)

Notes about VDR 2019:

1. Both people that weren't enrolled in a PHO and were dead (as at 31/12/2019) have been excluded. 
2. Data was extracted on 30/03/2020.
3. Due to COVID-19, the complete set of data quality measures were unable to be run in 2019, increasing the risk of minor errors.

Count of people in the Virtual Diabetes Register aged between 15-74, by DHB of domicile and ethnicity, 2019

DHB	Māori	Pacific people	Indian	European / Other	VDR total (age 15-74)	VDR total (all ages)	Percentage of people in the 15-74 age group
Auckland	1,778	5,631	3,806	9,915	21,130	26,445	79.9%
Bay of Plenty	2,853	245	413	5,043	8,554	11,626	73.6%
Canterbury	1,775	1,038	592	14,497	17,902	24,023	74.5%
Capital and Coast	1,422	2,046	883	6,234	10,585	13,714	77.2%
Counties Manukau	5,585	14,750	5,735	12,132	38,202	45,266	84.4%
Hawkes Bay	2,382	454	195	3,958	6,989	9,113	76.7%
Hutt	1,221	1,091	526	3,910	6,748	8,441	79.9%
Lakes	1,956	200	152	2,361	4,669	5,943	78.6%
MidCentral	1,455	366	212	5,189	7,222	9,511	75.9%
Nelson Marlborough	531	111	71	3,741	4,454	6,316	70.5%
Northland	4,283	200	138	4,307	8,928	11,625	76.8%
South Canterbury	170	47	39	1,973	2,229	3,189	69.9%
Southern	1,063	476	221	9,298	11,058	15,224	72.6%
Tairawhiti	1,578	99	21	1,039	2,737	3,549	77.1%
Taranaki	1,125	92	117	3,832	5,166	7,032	73.5%
Waikato	5,325	1,045	1,093	10,989	18,452	23,579	78.3%
Wairarapa	369	58	35	1,273	1,735	2,375	73.1%
Waitemata	2,376	4,036	2,601	15,394	24,407	31,153	78.3%
West Coast	129	18	11	1,013	1,171	1,549	75.6%
Whanganui	1,010	103	59	2,022	3,194	4,183	76.4%
Unknown/Unassigned	14	6	5	40	65	82	79.3%
Total	38,400	32,112	16,925	118,160	205,597	263,938	77.9%

Source: VDR Dec 2019 (v686)

Notes about VDR 2019:

1. Both people that weren't enrolled in a PHO and were dead (as at 31/12/2019) have been excluded. 
2. Data was extracted on 30/03/2020.
3. Due to COVID-19, the complete set of data quality measures were unable to be run in 2019, increasing the risk of minor errors.

Count of people in the Virtual Diabetes Register, by age-group and ethnicity, 2019

Age-group	Māori	Pacific people	Indian	European/ Other	Total
00-04	29	10	2	79	120
05-09	100	34	13	318	465
10-14	200	92	23	672	987
15-19	387	172	30	953	1,542
20-24	675	361	76	1,333	2,445
25-29	1,024	710	356	2,075	4,165
30-34	1,536	1,140	979	3,127	6,782
35-39	1,943	1,666	1,165	4,015	8,789
40-44	2,515	2,342	1,281	4,918	11,056
45-49	3,858	3,433	1,639	8,325	17,255
50-54	5,040	4,777	2,008	11,839	23,664
55-59	6,223	5,138	2,451	16,630	30,442
60-64	6,063	4,812	2,650	19,705	33,230
65-69	5,324	4,351	2,435	21,823	33,933
70-74	3,873	3,237	1,861	23,580	32,551
75-79	2,412	2,122	1,252	19,466	25,252
80-84	1,383	1,075	686	14,307	17,451
85+	657	544	352	12,256	13,809
Total	43,242	36,016	19,259	165,421	263,938

Source: VDR Dec 2019 (v686)

Notes about VDR 2019:

1. Both people that weren't enrolled in a PHO and were dead (as at 31/12/2019) have been excluded. 
2. Data was extracted on 30/03/2020.
3. Due to COVID-19, the complete set of data quality measures were unable to be run in 2019, increasing the risk of minor errors.

Count of people in the Virtual Diabetes Register, by DHB of domicile and ethnicity, 2019

DHB of domicile	Māori	Pacific people	Indian	European/ Other	Total
Auckland	1,984	6,447	4,453	13,561	26,445
Bay of Plenty	3,292	267	457	7,610	11,626
Canterbury	1,996	1,151	636	20,240	24,023
Capital and Coast	1,594	2,349	1,042	8,729	13,714
Counties Manukau	6,145	16,400	6,536	16,185	45,266
Hawkes Bay	2,688	498	219	5,708	9,113
Hutt	1,340	1,206	605	5,290	8,441
Lakes	2,226	220	169	3,328	5,943
MidCentral	1,656	402	231	7,222	9,511
Nelson Marlborough	623	122	79	5,492	6,316
Northland	4,901	224	150	6,350	11,625
South Canterbury	199	50	40	2,900	3,189
Southern	1,224	531	234	13,235	15,224
Tairawhiti	1,804	112	23	1,610	3,549
Taranaki	1,287	100	122	5,523	7,032
Waikato	5,894	1,172	1,210	15,303	23,579
Wairarapa	438	61	35	1,841	2,375
Waitemata	2,639	4,568	2,935	21,011	31,153
West Coast	155	18	12	1,364	1,549
Whanganui	1,142	110	65	2,866	4,183
Unknown/Unassigned	15	8	6	53	82
Total	43,242	36,016	19,259	165,421	263,938

Source: VDR Dec 2019 (v686)

Notes about VDR 2019:

1. Both people that weren't enrolled in a PHO and were dead (as at 31/12/2019) have been excluded. 
2. Data was extracted on 30/03/2020.
3. Due to COVID-19, the complete set of data quality measures were unable to be run in 2019, increasing the risk of minor errors.