Diabetes no longer a disease of the urban affluent

[sajiv]

Diabetes no longer a disease of the urban affluent

CHENNAI: Here is some sobering news for the country: Diabetes is no longer a disease of the affluent urban residents. Clearly it is creeping up on rural and low-income groups as well.

A couple of recently-concluded studies have contributed to this sobering view of the epidemic. A study done in Kerala has concluded that the prevalence in rural Kerala is as high as 14.6 per cent. The Chennai Urban Population Study [CUPS] has showed that in a low-income locality in Chennai the prevalence of diabetes had risen from 6.5 per cent in 2001 to 15.3 per cent in 2009.

V.Mohan, chairman of Madras Diabetes Research Foundation that conducted the study, says, "If in a low income group, the prevalence has more than doubled in a nine-year period, it is certainly a cause for worry. There is another message - one of hope and is contained in the second part of the study. We have also shown that with intervention – mere lifestyle modification – it is possible to stem the rapid climb of the epidemic."

With the increasing affordability and availability of fast foods, more people belonging to lower economic groups began developing diabetes, he adds. Complemented by an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the diet wreaked havoc among certain populations thought to be immune to diabetes.

In India, now, the lack of exercise and a shift in the dietary patterns is fuelling a similar shift. The CUPS study also showed that the body mass index went up by higher percentage points in the low-income group than in a middle income group among whom lifestyle modifications were introduced over the same period. Similarly, the increase in waist circumference and waist-hip ratio was also higher. All these could be markers of diabetes in a population. "If more people in the low-economic groups are being affected, it is going to throw up questions of cost and affordability. We have to work out insurance and other support models in order that these people will be able to access at least maintenance care for Diabetes," Vijay Vishwanathan, managing director, M.V.Hospital for Diabetes, Royapuram, said.

Dr.Mohan points to the significant achievements of interventions among a middle class group in the city Asiad Colony in Tirumangalam, as CUPS showed. Marked slowing down of the progress of risk factors was noticed in this group when minor interventions such as walking and regular blood tests were commissioned.