Abstract

India carries a considerable snare of the global diabetes burden. Pre-diabetics have 10 times risk of developing type 2 diabetes within 7 years compared with people whose glucose level is in the normal range. The objectives of the study were to study the prevalence of pre-diabetes in Kashmir & to suggest early preventive steps for the control of diabetes. A community based cross sectional study was carried out to measure the prevalence of pre-diabetes in men and women greater than 45 years of age. The study was purposively conducted in Central zone of Kashmir Valley which includes three districts, district Srinagar, district Budgam and district Ganderbal. The study was carried out in both rural and urban areas, with district Srinagar representing the urban population & district Budgam & district Ganderbal representing the rural population. Multi-stage sampling was adopted for selection of subjects and 5 per 1000 of total population were selected which made a total of 2800 study subjects who were taken up for the study. Fasting blood sample was sent for blood sugar. Every subject who had impaired fasting glucose was subjected to oral glucose tolerance test; after giving 75gms of oral glucose an additional blood sample was taken after 2 hours. The persons having fasting blood sugar> 100 mg/dl and <126 mg/dl or the persons having 2 hours PP glucose> 140 mg/dl and < 200 mg/dl were taken as pre-diabetics. A  total of 821 study subjects were diagnosed as  having Pre diabetes out of the total  study population of 2800; among the subjects with pre-diabetes impaired fasting glucose was seen in 598, IGT was seen in 78, both IFG+IGT in 145.  Most of the subjects were  seen in 45-49 years age group i.e. 161 which is 26% of the total subjects in this age group. Pre-diabetes was present in 439  of total female studied population and 382  of total male studied population. pre-diabetes present in 528 of the total rural population and 293 of the total urban population. 285 of pre-diabetics belonged to the lower middle class whereas 250  belonged to the average middle class. Proper and requisite education about healthy behavior (dietary measures and exercise) and changing lifestyle, would keep these individuals healthy, if applied at an early stage. These measures would defer the onset of diabetes as well as its related complication.                           

Key words:- Pre-diabetes, Impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose, Kashmir Valley.