Study Flags Shocking Pre-Diabetes, BP, Cholesterol, Obesity Numbers In India

New Delhi: An eye-opening study on deteriorating health markers of Indians has shown the prevalence of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, central obesity or abdominal fat, and high cholesterol. The prevalence of diabetes and other metabolic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India is considerably higher than previously estimated, the study has found.

The study, claimed to be the “first comprehensive study, covering all states of India” to assess the NCD burden in the country, has been conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Union Health Ministry.

Published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, it found that “while the diabetes epidemic is stabilizing in the more developed states of the country, it is still increasing in most other states”. The study, titled “Metabolic non-communicable health report of India-the ICMR-INDIAB National Cross-sectional Study”, has found that the national prevalence of diabetes is 11.4% whereas 35.5% of Indians suffer from hypertension.

“Thus, there are serious implications for the nation, warranting urgent state-specific policies and interventions to arrest the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India,” it said.

Prediabetes

Another worrying trend is the higher number of people — around 15.3% — suffer from prediabetes, a condition just before entering the stage of diabetes where blood sugar is high but not high enough to be Type 2 diabetes. It shows that pre-diabetics outnumber diabetics in India. The study showed that more than 28% have generalised obesity, around 40% have abdominal obesity and 81.2% have dyslipidaemia, abnormally elevated cholesterol or lipids in the blood — all markers show the prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors.

“While the diabetes epidemic is stabilising in the more developed states of the country, it is still increasing in most other states. Thus, there are serious implications for the nation, warranting urgent state-specific policies and interventions to arrest the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India,” researchers said in the study.