14 Jun 2023 • The prevalence of diabetes in India is 11.4 per cent, while 35.5 per cent and 15.3 per cent of people suffer from hypertension and prediabetes respectively, according to the findings of a nationwide survey published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal. The study, conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and funded by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, also found that the prevalence of generalised obesity and abdominal obesity in India stood at 28.6 and 39.5 per cent, respectively.

In 2017, the team found that the prevalence of diabetes in India was around 7.5 per cent, meaning there has been an increase of over 50 per cent in the burden since then. The survey also showed that an alarming 81.2 per cent have dyslipidaemia, and all metabolic NCDs except prediabetes were more frequent in urban than rural areas.

"The prevalence of diabetes and other metabolic NCDs in India is considerably higher than previously estimated. While the diabetes epidemic is stabilising in the more developed states of the country, it is still increasing in most other states," the authors of the study said.

"Thus, there are serious implications for the nation, warranting urgent state-specific policies and interventions to arrest the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India," they said.

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