Low awareness, treatment and control major challenges to reduce diabetes by 2025: Survey
India Today
The survey by ICMR-NCDIR revealed that low levels of awareness, treatment and control are key challenges in diabetes reduction by 2025.
The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Centre for Disease Informatics & Research (ICMR-NCDIR), Bengaluru, has released a paper in an international journal, Frontiers in Public Health, providing a comprehensive picture of diabetes care in India.
The paper, titled ‘Diabetes Care Cascade in India’ provides empirical evidence to strengthen diabetes care in the country and publishes assessment results from the National NCD Monitoring Survey (NNMS) on diabetes prevalence, prevention, and management services available at public health facilities.
The National NCD Monitoring Survey, led by ICMR-NCDIR with support from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India sought to examine empirical evidence to address the deficiencies in the diabetic care cascade, identify disadvantaged population groups with diabetes and monitor the initiatives taken to halt the growing burden of diabetes by 2025. As part of this, a total of 9,721 adults aged 18-69 years were surveyed across the country.
The survey revealed that diabetes was more prevalent in women and in urban adults. Older age, obesity, raised blood pressure and high cholesterol were all observed to be key risk factors for diabetes.
The key findings from the survey have been highlighted below: 9.3% of adults in India were found to be diabetic. Among them, 45.8% were aware of their diabetes status, 36.1% were under treatment and 15.7% had their diabetes under control. The prevalence of diabetes was two times higher in urban areas (14.3%) than in rural areas (6.9%). However, poor awareness and treatment among rural adults than their urban counterparts is worrisome. Diabetes was more prevalent among women (10.2%) than men (8.5%), but majority of women were newly diagnosed (6.0%). Furthermore, 44.2% of adults with raised cholesterol and 16.3% with hypertension had diabetes. More than three-fourths of adults in India sought treatment for diabetes from allopathic practitioners of medicine. Higher proportions of rural residents (24.6%) sought consultation from AYUSH systems. Nearly 70% of primary and more than 90% of secondary public health facilities surveyed provided screening, laboratory, and management services for diabetes, but had inadequate counselling services. Older adults, men, urban residents and those who received some education were better aware and on treatment for diabetes.
Dr Prashant Mathur, lead author of the study, said, “Understanding where diabetics are lost in the care cascade is essential for developing targeted health interventions. Timely implementation of population-based screening and strengthening primary health care will go a long way in reducing and controlling diabetes by 2025.”
The full published paper can be found here.
