A concerning study released in the Lancet journal has revealed that one-fourth of adults with diabetes worldwide reside in India, representing 212 million of the total 828 million.
According to data up to 2022, the countries with the highest number of diabetics are China (148 million), the US (42 million), Pakistan (36 million), Indonesia (25 million), and Brazil (22 million).
Furthermore, this research represents the initial worldwide examination of trends in diabetes prevalence and management. Scientists utilized data from more than 140 million individuals aged 18 and older across over 1,000 studies.
The scientists utilized the two most frequently applied diagnostic standards — a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) measurement of 7.0 mmol/L or 126 mg/dL and an HbA1c (mean blood sugar level over three months) value of 6.5 percent or greater.
Dr. R M Anjana, president of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and a co-author of the Lancet study, highlights that utilizing the HbA1c blood test and fasting glucose levels as calculation standards may have raised the prevalence figures, according to Indian Express.
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In the ICMR-INDIAB study, without considering HbA1c, the prevalence of diabetes in India for 2022 was 14.4 percent (69 million) among females and 12.2 percent (62 million) among males — totaling 131 million overall. The research was released on World Diabetes Day. The research additionally discovered that obesity and unhealthy eating habits pose global risk factors.
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Globally, 59 percent of individuals aged 30 and older (445 million) did not access diabetes treatment in 2022, which is three-and-a-half times the figure from 1990 (129 million). In 2022, nearly 64 million men and 69 million women suffering from untreated diabetes resided in India.
Dr. Tushar Tayal, Consultant in Internal Medicine at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, informed Financial Express.com that India’s significant portion of the worldwide diabetic population—estimated at more than 21.2 crore out of 82.8 crore cases—results from a mix of genetic, lifestyle, and socioeconomic influences.
Author Jean Claude Mbanya, from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon, stated that their research indicates a growing number of individuals with diabetes, particularly those with untreated diabetes, are residing in low- and middle-income countries.
Complications like diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to vision loss and blindness, are associated with undiagnosed diabetes, where high blood sugar levels damage the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye.
“Preventing diabetes through a healthy diet and regular exercise is crucial for global health due to the severe and deadly outcomes of the disease,” says Ranjit Mohan Anjana from Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.
