A recent study and survey conducted by ICMR declared that 101.3 million people in India are living and breathing with diabetes. The other 136 million people have been found to be living with pre-diabetes. According to the most recent data, about 11 per cent of the population in India is diabetic. Among them, 16.4 per cent population belongs to urban India and 8.9 per cent belongs to rural India. About 15.4 per cent of the people in urban India are also in the pre-diabetic stage and in rural India, the prevalence of pre-diabetes is 15.2 per cent.
About The Survey Conducted By ICMR
This survey conducted by ICMR is one of the largest. ICMR has have looked at 31 states and Union Territories. Along with diabetes, they also found other health problems among people, especially in people living with diabetes. 254 million people are living with obesity, 351 million with abdominal obesity to be very specific, 213 million with hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), and 185 million had high LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol.
The chairman of chairman of Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) reported to the agencies that the number of people living with pre-diabetes is more than the number of people living with diabetes. This is concerning because, in the near future these people may become diabetic too. This epidemic may become worse than it is right now. There has already been a huge spike in the number of cases compared to previous years and in the future it may increase even more.
Aside from diabetes, the survey also found other diseases and risk factors for human health. These diseases like hypertension, obesity, is particularly high among urban Indian population. To be specific, abdominal obesity is high in almost all of India, generalized obesity is high in south, north and east India. Almost all regions of India have high cases of hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL cholesterol. In contrast, hypercholesterolemia and high LDL cholesterol showed comprehensive interstate and inter-regional variability, with the highest prevalence in the northern region, Kerala, and Goa.
