Socio-economic Status among Diabetes in Pune

Abstract

As there is marked increase in incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in India, primarily, due to rapid changes in lifestyles in different socio-cultural and ethnic groups, an anthropological study of 750 diabetic patients was carried out in Western part of India with the help of structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews and statistical calculations. The diagnosis was based on 'WHO criteria from K.E.M, AFMC, Sassoon Hospital, Poona Hospital, Nandadeep Hospital within Pune city. Maximum numbers of patients were Marathas, the Warrior Class followed by Brahmins, Backward Caste, Others. The diabetics though had some sort of formal education but had low awareness about the disease, ignorance about their healthy diet pattern and belonged to Class II category with mixed type of work pattern of both sedentary and non-sedentary. All these might have contributed to deterioration of glucose metabolism coupled with stress, resulted in incidence of Type 2 Diabetes. Hence further studies are required to evaluate the various epidemiological and environmental factors, dietary patterns, socio-cultural and economic status, influencing incidence and distribution of diabetes in different parts of ethnic groups of India.