Diseases of a lifestyle: The transition to avoid

Poor in urban well-off states have a higher incidence of diabetes than the rich in the same cities, according to a study

In June 2017, British medical journal Lancet published a review of the prevalence of diabetes in 15 states of India. This study, by a group of medical practitioners and funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has worrying numbers. It finds that while some 7 per cent people in India (based on the 15 states’ data) had diabetes, and the prevalence of pre-diabetes (early signs, particularly elevated blood sugar levels) was a staggering 10-15 per cent, depending on the criterion used. This is no small health burden on a poor country.

Their conclusion is we are undergoing an epidemiological