37.8 Million Cases: Diabetes Spreading in India
Pakistan Times Wire Service

NEW DELHI: There are 37.8 million cases of diabetics in India and it accounts for 1.09 lakh deaths per year, Iranian News Agency IRNA reported citing Indian Health Ministry figures.

"Diabetes in children is increasing, primarily due to increase in childhood obesity. Rapid urbanization and economic growth creates social dynamics that promote diabetes risk factors.

These include over -weight, decrease in physical activity, increase in sedentary activities such as television viewing and high fat and high energy diet," says Anoop Misra, director, Department of Diabetes and Metabolic diseases, Fortis Hospitals.

The sale of anti-obesity drugs in India in 2006- 2007, prescribed by doctors, has grown by around 44 percent compared to 2005-2006. However, the exact number of diabetes cases among children is not available. "It is a growing concern.

World Health Organization (WHO) has already predicted that by 2030 India will have 80 million diabetic patients out of a world figure of 366 million and also remarked India as a diabetes capital of the world," says Ritu Rana, consultant, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

An independent study conducted by Delhi Diabetes Research Center (DDRC) claims that prevalence of obesity has doubled in children in the past 15-20 years. About 85 percent children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese, it says.

According to an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) survey, about 17 percent of 2000 teenagers in New Delhi are obese or overweight, which is above global average of 15 percent for all children.●