Prevalence of Diabetes in India

Abstract

This chapter reviews the prevalence of diabetes in India. The chapter discusses a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research at six centers representing six different geographical regions of India. This study covered 25,000 subjects in urban areas and 20,000 in rural areas. Out of these, 3,516 subjects in urban areas and 3,495 in rural areas above the age of 15 years were given a 75 gm oral glucose load. After 2 hours, venous blood and urine were collected for sugar estimation. Subjects having a postglucose blood sugar value above 100 mg% were subjected to a standard oral glucose tolerance test. The prevalence rate of diabetes in the urban population was 3.04%, and in the rural areas, it was 1.287%. The male-to-female ratio for diabetes in the urban area was 2:1, and in the rural area, it was 1:1. The prevalence of glycosuria was 6.68% in the urban and 3.91% in the rural population. The findings of this study were discussed with reference to observations from the other five centers of the collaborative study and to additional reports from India and other areas of the world. The overall prevalence reported in this study was 2.16%; for the whole of India, it was 1.73%.