New Delhi: Diabetes doesn’t even spare the young Indians as 11.1 % adult males and 10.8 % adult females are suffering from it. With a person dying and two cases being identified every ten seconds, diabetes is certainly one of the biggest global challenges. And as per WHO report 2012 if India doesn’t awake from its slumber, by 2025, every fifth diabetic on earth would be an Indian.
At present there are around 171 million diabetic people all over the world, and India accounts for more than 40 million who are likely to reach 70 million by 2025. Diabetes doesn’t even spare the young Indians as 11.1 % adult males and 10.8 % adult females are suffering from it. Diabetes eventually result sin many fatal diseases such as stroke and heart attack, and, as per WHO estimates, mortality from diabetes including heart disease, kidney failure and others cost India $210 billion in 2005. It would cost India $ 333.6 billion over the decade.
“People with diabetes are more prone to heart diseases than the rest of the population. One-third of the diabetics develop coronary artery disease (CAD), irrespective of the precaution they take and death of 80% diabetics can be attributed to CAD,” said Dr. Purshottam Lal, Chief Cardiologist and chairman, Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute. Majority of the young Indians falling prey to this disease are suffering from Type 1 diabetes which makes an individual highly vulnerable to stroke and kidney failure.
“Up to 40 % of young people with type 1 diabetes may be at risk of kidney disease, a complication which also increases the risk of heart disease. Every year, too many people with type 1 diabetes experience kidney failure and heart disease as a result of their diabetes and this can have a really devastating effect on their lives,” said Dr. Jitendra kumar, Head of Nephrology Department, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Faridabad. Obesity is believed to be the root cause for diabetes and cosmopolitan lifestyle has made life of young Indians fast which alienates us from physical activity.
Our country is inching closer to two interlinked epidemics – obesity and type 2 diabetes. It is well-established that increasing physical activity and reducing obesity plays an important role in reducing risk of diabetes. A number of studies show that Weight loss surgery benefits overweight patients with type 2diabetes. Long-term follow up showed that patients continued to have improvements in their diabetes, as well as a reduction in risk factors for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr Arun Prasad, Obesity Surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Bureau Report
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