ICMR report that was published in the UK medical journal "Lancet," India currently has more than 101 million individuals living with diabetes, up from 70 million in 2019. The report observes that although the numbers are stabilising in some industrialised states, they are rising alarmingly in many more, "warranting urgent state-specific interventions."
At least 136 million people, or 15. 3% of the population have pre-diabetes. The states with the highest rates of diabetes were Goa (26.4%), Puducherry (26.3%), and Kerala (25.5%) while 11.4% is the national average. In states with lesser incidence, such UP, MP, Bihar, and Arunachal Pradesh, the study foresees an explosion in the number of diabetes cases over the following few years.
“In Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh there are fewer pre-diabetes cases compared to diabetes cases.
In Puducherry and Delhi, they are nearly equal and so we can say the disease is stabilising,” said the study’s first author, Dr Ranjit Mohan Anjana, who is president of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. But in states with lower incidence of diabetes, scientists have recorded a greater number of people with pre-diabetes.
“For every person with diabetes in UP, there are nearly four people with pre-diabetes. This means these people will soon become diabetics,” Dr Anjana said. “Sikkim is an exception where the prevalence of both diabetes and prediabetes is high. We must study the reasons,” she said.