According to a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB), urgent state-specific policies and interventions are needed to tackle the rapidly increasing epidemic of metabolic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India. The study, published in The Lancet, revealed that the prevalence of diabetes and other metabolic NCDs is significantly higher in India than previously estimated.
Based on a cross-sectional population-based survey, the ICMR study assessed a representative sample of individuals aged 20 years and older drawn from urban and rural areas of 31 states, union territories, and the National Capital Territory of India. The findings suggest that while the diabetes epidemic is stabilizing in the more developed states of the country, it is still increasing in most other states.
The study was conducted in several phases with a stratified multistage sampling design, using three-level stratification based on geography, population size, and socioeconomic status of each state. Diabetes and prediabetes were diagnosed using the WHO criteria, hypertension using the Eighth Joint National Committee guidelines, obesity (generalised and abdominal) using the WHO Asia Pacific guidelines, and dyslipidaemia using the National Cholesterol Education Program–Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines.
According to the study, the overall weighted prevalence of diabetes was 11.4% (95% CI 10.2-12.5), prediabetes 15.3% (13.9-16.6), hypertension 35.5% (33.8-37.3), generalised obesity 28.6% (26.9-30.3), abdominal obesity 39.5% (37.7-41.4), and dyslipidaemia 81.2% (77.9-84.5). All metabolic NCDs, except prediabetes, were more frequent in urban than rural areas. In many states with a lower human development index, the ratio of diabetes to prediabetes was less than 1.
Non-communicable disease (NCD) rates are rapidly increasing in India with wide regional variations. The study aimed to quantify the prevalence of metabolic NCDs in India and analyse interstate and inter-regional variations.
The ICMR study was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
