150% rise in diabetics in 3 decades, ICMR issues guidance

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, June 6

With India witnessing 150 per cent increase in the number of diabetics over three decades, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday issued guidance on type 1 diabetes, which principally affects children and adolescents.

Incidence of type 1

4.9 cases/1,00,000 per year

3%, 5% and 8% risk when mother, father and sibling, respectively, have the disease

Differences between conditions

• Type 1: The body’s immune system mistakenly targets its pancreatic tissues, interrupting insulin production and leading to high blood sugar. It is not caused due to lifestyle issues and does not go away on its own. Previously called juvenile diabetes, it requires lifelong management
• Type 2: It is the most common form of diabetes. The body’s cells are unable to use insulin properly leading to high blood sugar and diabetes. This is caused by factors, including genetics and lifestyle and is easier to manage

The guidance comes at a time when the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has disproportionately affected people with diabetes, exposing them to a high risk for severe illness and mortality. Globally, diabetes caused over four million deaths in 2019 and was the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease, adult-onset blindness and cardiovascular diseases.

“India houses the world’s second largest adult diabetes population and every sixth person with diabetes in the world is an Indian. The past three decades have witnessed a 150 per cent increase in the number of people with diabetes in India. The growing prevalence of pre-diabetes indicates a further increase in diabetes in the near future,” ICMR DG Balram Bhargava said, adding diabetes was now traversing from high to the middle income and underprivileged sections.

ICMR experts say a matter of immense concern is the progressive lowering of age at which type 2 diabetes is happening in 25–34 year olds.

Estimates from the International Diabetes Federation suggest that over one million children and adolescents in the world have type 1 diabetes and India has the highest number of incident and prevalent cases of type 1 diabetes in the world.

That explains the guidance, which covers a range of issues, including diet and exercise plans and available insulin regimens for affected patients.

All children and adults with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) require insulin as soon as they are diagnosed and continuously thereafter throughout life.