Date:01/06/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/06/01/stories/2004060101161900.htm

Back Diabetes assuming epidemic proportions

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , May 31

ACCORDING to a recent global report, India will be home to 7.94 crore diabetics by 2030 retaining its dubious distinction of the diabetes capital of the world. In 2000, there were 3.17 crore of them.

Economic costs of the disease, which is now considered an epidemic, are mind boggling, with an estimated Rs 57,000 crore expected to be spent by 2025. This figure does not consist of hospitalisation costs and other overheads such as dialysis. A conservative estimate puts the consolidated figure at Rs 1,50,000 crore.

In 1995, the country would have spent Rs 9,500 on medication for diabetes.

This, however, does not mean that we cannot do anything to reduce the damage. "Burning some calories by a daily dose of 30 minutes of physical exercise will reduce the projected number of diabetics by half," said Dr V. Mohan, President of Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF).

He said physical exercise would greatly benefit those with family history of diabetes.

Addressing a press conference here recently to share the findings of recent studies, he said a 90-cm waist norm for men and 80-cm waist for women would keep the disease away. Stating that his foundation was trying to identify the gene that made Indians more vulnerable to the disease, he said South Indians were found to be more susceptible.

"It is unlikely that the genes have changed in the last 30 years, yet the prevalence rate of diabetes has increased by almost 600 per cent. This means that environmental and lifestyle changes may be responsible to a large extent for the spread," he said.

He said diabetes had a cascading effect. "They are 25 times more vulnerable to renal failure and 20 times more vulnerable to blindness," he said. On an average, diabetes reduced the lifespan by eight years.

In a bid to make more doctors equipped with the skills required to tackle the growing numbers, MDRF, in association with American Diabetes Association (ADA), is organising the second MDRF-ADA post-graduate course on diabetes.

The three-day course, slated to be held in Chennai from September 24, would have brainstorming sessions on various aspects, which included latest advances in technology and treatment. As many as 1,200 doctors from all over the country are expected to attend.

Similarly, the foundation would organise a day-long course for diabetes educators with American Association of Diabetes Educators on September 23. According to Dr Mohan, it is the first time for both the associations in organising such courses outside the US.