Diabetes prevalence in states: Goa has the highest; Uttar Pradesh lowest

A whopping 101 million Indians are now diabetic while another 136 million suffer from prediabetics, a nationwide study says, adding that there has been a hike of over 50 per cent in the condition since 2017.

The findings of the largest epidemiological study on diabetics and non-communicable diseases (NCD) have been published in The Lancet Diabetics and Endocrinology journal.

If all this weren’t enough, 315 million in the country also had high blood pressure.

The study was conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and funded by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

According to the findings, the prevalence of generalised obesity and abdominal obesity in India stands at 28.6 (254 million) and 39.5 per cent (351 million) respectively.

State statistics

Goa (26.4 per cent) had the highest prevalence of diabetes and Uttar Pradesh (4.8 per cent) the least.

Sikkim (31.3 per cent) and Mizoram (6.8 per cent) had the highest and lowest burden of prediabetes.

Punjab (51.8 per cent) had the highest prevalence of hypertension. Meghalaya (24.3 per cent) had the highest burden, the researchers said.

“The steep increase in NCDs can be attributed mostly to the lifestyle choices of people such as diet, physical activity, stress levels. The positive news is that interventions can be used to curb the trend,” Dr R M Anjana, President, MDRF, told PTI.

“The diabetes epidemic in India is in transition, with some states having already reached their peak rates while others are just getting started. These states may see an increase in prevalence over the next 3-5 years before plateauing,” Anjana said.

The results are based on a survey of 1,13,043 people (33,537 urban and 79,506 rural residents) in 31 states and Union Territories between 2008 and 2020.

Other issues

The survey also showed that an alarming 81.2 per cent have dyslipidaemia — the imbalance of lipids such as cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, (LDL-C), triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

All metabolic NCDs except prediabetes were more frequent in urban than rural areas.

“The prevalence of diabetes and other metabolic NCDs in India is considerably higher than previously estimated,” the study said.

“While the diabetes epidemic is stabilising in the more developed states of the country, it is still increasing in most other states.”

(With agency inputs)