A study spread over almost ten decades covering 1,24,000 individuals from across 29 states and three Union Territories on a prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes has thrown up some very alarming findings about Gujarat.
The ICMR-INDIAB cross-sectional door-to-door study that covered individuals aged 20 and above found that the prevalence of prediabetes in the state as 10.7%.
Prediabetics are those who have border-level or slightly higher level of glucose levels than normal and are at the risk of developing diabetes.
The study carried out by Mohan's Diabetes & Research Foundation (MDRF), in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), found that 11.5% of the surveyed people in rural areas of Gujarat were prediabetics while the figure was 9.3% in urban areas of the state.
Overall, the prevalence of diabetes was 10.3% in urban areas, 5.1% in rural areas and 7.1% across the state. Dr Banshi Saboo, a diabetologist in Ahmedabad, who was also one of the principal investigators of the study for Gujarat, said it is very important to concentrate on the prediabetes population.
"With proper management and counselling we can prevent them from becoming diabetics and that would help prevent in adding to the diabetic population of the country," he said, adding the disease has an economic cost too.
"A person who develops diabetes in his 50s will have complications in his 70s while the one that develops it in his early 30 says may have the same in his later 40s thus affecting the working population," said Dr Saboo.
The study covered 3,760 people of which 2618 were in rural areas of the state.
It further found that the highest number of pre-diabetics both in the urban and rural areas for men wherein the age ground of 25-34 while in the 20-24 age group incidence of prediabetes was higher in rural men than in urban men.
For women, the incidence of prediabetes was higher in rural women in the 20-24 age group while in all the other age groups it was more or less similar for both rural and urban women.
In the 55-plus age group, it was once again higher among rural women.
Dr Anjana Mohan, MD of Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialty Center said that the study also found that diabetes continued to be a rich man's disease in all states across rural and urban areas. However, in urban areas of rich states like Punjab, Gujarat and such as more poor people were being diagnosed with the disease than the rich, she said.
"This could be because of better awareness. The well-off can due to better awareness, go to the gym, eat healthy while the poor don't have these options. More importantly, fruits and vegetables are more expensive than junk food which is cheap and easily available," said Dr Mohan.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Diabetes")
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}