101 million Indians are likely diabetic: Why the silent-killing disease is on an alarming rise

Diabetes is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in India. A new survey published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal estimates that over 11 per cent of people across India suffer from diabetes. The study was conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Let’s take a closer look: How was the study carried out? According to The Telegraph India, the study examined the blood sugar, blood pressure, obesity and cholesterol levels in people across India. The study’s sample size was over 100,000 people nationwide. The study was conducted between 2008 and 2020 in five phases – with each state covering five states and one phase covering all seven north eastern states, as per The Hindu.

The door-to-door survey examined individuals over the age of 20.

Around 4,000 people were chosen in each state with 2,800 in rural and 1,200 from urban areas. According to the BBC, data collected in 2008 was extrapolated for 2021 using demographics as per the latest National Family Health Survey. “If you look at the Indian demographic graph, it matches exactly with the census graph, meaning it is a highly representative study,” Dr V Mohan, chief of diabetes research at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), Chennai, and a principal investigator of the study, told Indian Express. [caption id=“attachment_11617711” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Over 100,000 people participated in the study from across India. Representational image. News18[/caption] “No country has ever done such a big study representative of all their states. Even the biggest study from China had 40,000 participants from five or six places in the country. We have conducted door-to-door screening of 113,000 people representing all states and the 1.4 billion people living in it,” he added. What did it find? The study estimated that around 101 million Indians now suffer from diabetes. That’s an alarming rise from the around 70 million people that were estimated to be living with diabetes in 2019. The study found that Goa recorded the highest prevalence of diabetes across the nation with 26.4 per cent of its population suffering from the disease. Goa was closely followed by Puducherry at 26.3 percent and Kerala 25.5 per cent. In Chandigarh and Tamil Nadu, the prevalence is  20.4 per cent and 14.4 per cent respectively, as per The Hindu. The prevalence rate of diabetes was found to be at the lowest in Uttar Pradesh – just 4.8 per cent, as per The Telegraph India.

But there’s bad news.

The study says it expects ‘an explosion’ of cases in coming years in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh, as per The Times of India. “It is a ticking time bomb,” Dr RM Anjana, lead author of the study and managing director at Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, was quoted as saying by BBC. The study noted that though numbers are stabilising in some states, they are increasing at an ‘alarming rate’ in many others. The study said this calls for “urgent state-specific interventions,” as per The Times of India. According to The Hindu, urban India accounts for 16.4 per cent of the disease while rural India accounts for 8.9 per cent. But experts told BBC diabetes is no longer considered to be an affliction of the affluent. “I see a good number of patients travelling from smaller towns,” Rahul Baxi, a consultant diabetologist at Bombay Hospital, told the BBC. Baxi added the patients are getting younger and younger. [caption id=“attachment_12068642” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Obesity is a risk factor for a number of disorders, including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, joint and back pain, and several cancers. Treating the problem as early as possible may help prevent a lot of misery. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] “I have seen some cases of children of my patients who just checked their glucose levels at home because their parents were checking and they found the levels high!” What’s the cause? Experts blame a whole host of reasons for the increased prevalence of diabetes. “Changing lifestyles, improved standards of living, migration to cities, erratic working hours, sedentary habits, stress, pollution, change in food habits and easy availability of fast food are some of the reasons why diabetes is rising in India,” Baxi said.

Another 136 million are estimated to have pre-diabetes, according to The Times of India.

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According to The Hindu, around 15.4 per cent of the urban population and 15.2 per cent of rural India are likely to be pre-diabetic. The overall prevalence is 15.3 per cent. “The prevalence of pre-diabetes is even higher and many people are undiagnosed for a long time,” Baxi added. According to the Mayo Clinic website, those with prediabetes have blood sugar that is higher than normal. Prediabetics are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes without serious lifestyle adjustments. “Not everyone with prediabetes gets diabetes, but the conversion rate from prediabetes to diabetes among Indians and South Asians is among the fastest in the world,” Mohan told The Telegraph India. “A third of people with pre-diabetes will get diabetes in a few years and another one-third may remain pre-diabetic. The remaining may reverse the condition due to various factors, including a healthy diet, lifestyle, and exercise,” Mohan told The Times of India. But experts say the study has a silver lining – cases seem to be stabilising. “In Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Chandigarh there are fewer pre-diabetes cases compared to diabetes cases. In Puducherry and Delhi, they are nearly equal and so we can say the disease is stabilising,” Anjana told The Times of India. Besides, it allows those with prediabetes a chance to escape the clutches of the dreaded disease. “Healthy diets, adequate exercise, weight reduction and sufficient sleep. This is all that’s required for most people to reverse from the prediabetes stage — they don’t even need medicines,”  Anjana told The Telegraph India. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.