Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a high-risk non-communicable disease with an emerging burden for the European Union (EU) member states in the past decades. The unfavorable trend of the burden is striking compared to the declining disease burden due to cardiovascular diseases or stagnation of neoplasms. The goal of this study is to describe the temporal changes of diabetes in the adult population of Slovakia through the three European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) waves and to assess the association between DM and socioeconomic and/or lifestyle characteristics. These cross-sectional studies were carried out using microdata derived from Slovakia's EHISs conducted in the years 2009 (n = 4972), 2014 (n = 5490), and 2019 (n = 5527). The DM variable was compared to the independent variables such as sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics including dietary patterns and physical activity. DM prevalence for the EHIS in 2009, 2014, and 2019 were 6.1%, 8.2%, and 9.8%, respectively. In bivariate analysis, the relationship between DM and age, education level, job status, BMI, walking for at least 10 min, and physical activity was significant in the three EHISs. In 2014 and 2019, there was an inverse association between the risk of DM and walking regularly. There was no association between the frequency of eating fruits or vegetables and DM, with the exception of 2009, where a negative association between eating vegetables one to six times a week and DM was observed. Present health policies and activities in Slovakia were unable to reverse the increasing DM burden, indicating that a more systematic approach is needed. Complex policy strategies and legislative measures must be developed and implemented at both the national and EU levels.
Keywords: EHIS; European Union; diabetes; disease burden; policies.