More city youngsters at risk of turning diabetic

On World Diabetes Day which falls on Monday, the prevalence of the health condition continues to be a huge challenge for India and Chennai in particular. According to a study by Metropolis, almost 30 per cent of Chennaiites are diabetic and an equal number is pre-diabetic. In the 3,02,234 samples collected between the age group of 20 and 80 years, more than 89,257 samples (29.5 per cent) were found to be positive for Diabetes Mellitus and over 87,253 samples (28.8 per cent) were found to be in a pre-diabetic condition which means it is a high risk group for developing diabetes.

The gender-wise categorisation of the results shows that 27 per cent of women were found to be pre-diabetic and another 27 per cent were found to be diabetic. As for men, over 31 per cent of the samples in males were found to be pre-diabetic and another 32 per cent were diabetic. The worrying part of the study was the early onset of pre-diabetes among those less than 30 years of age at 10.9 per cent. This means that the chances of complications is higher due to the longer duration of the condition. Dr R Shivaa Mohan, diabetologist, points out that the special area of focus in diabetes challenge is the growing pre-diabetes rate. He says, “This means that the pre-diabetic population is likely to develop diabetes over a period of time. In fact, a study of the IT workforce in Chennai has also shown that one in four was pre-diabetic. This calls for immediate intervention and if you catch it at the earliest, you can prevent it.”

This year’s theme for Diabetes Day is Eyes on Diabetes to stress on the importance of early screening and treatment to avoid diabetes complications. In Tamil Nadu, the prevalence rate of diabetic retinopathy, which when left untreated, can lead to blindness is at 18.2 per cent, says Dr Suganeswari Ganesan, Senior Consultant, Vitreoretinal, Sankara Nethralaya says that it is therefore important for those above 40 to check their sugar levels periodically.