India Home to 63 Million Diabetics

Bangalore: India is currently home to 63 million diabetics, a rise by nearly 2 million in one year.  Surprising trends have been revealed from the health ministry's first-ever large-scale study to check for diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) by testing blood samples from the country's general population, reported Kounteya Sinha for TNN. Maharashtra recorded the lowest prevalence of diabetes at 2.5 percent but showed the highest prevalence of people suffering from high BP (18 percent). On the whole, 7 percent of those tested (7.59 lakh) were found to be diabetic while 6.55 lakh were hypertensive.

It was noted that Punjab recorded the lowest BP at 0.8 percent. Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand among the hill states recorded high rates of diabetes and high BP.  Sikkim recorded the highest prevalence of diabetes at 14 percent, and Himachal Pradesh recorded the second highest prevalence of hypertension (14.2 percent) among all states.

Tamil Nadu (11.7 percent) was noted to have the second highest prevalence of diabetes followed by Karnataka (10.3 percent), West Bengal (9.8 percent), Kerala (9.3 percent), Odisha (9 percent), J&K (8.8 percent), Punjab (8.5 percent), and Andhra Pradesh (8.3 percent).

Dr Anoop Misra of Fortis said "Physical inactivity is usually associated with diabetes but smoking tobacco and high salt intake are the two driving forces for high BP in Indians. While some states might have an active population and hence low diabetes rates, their consumption of salt and tobacco could be high thereby resulting in a spike in high BP rates," as reported by TNN.

Also Read: India Suffers with Low Awareness about Diabetes