Sweet timebomb: India children survey sounds diabetes alert

Mumbai:  A whopping 66.11 per cent of Indian children possess “abnormal levels of sugar” in their bodies, reveals a new nationwide three-year survey, the results of which were released here yesterday.

Of the 17,000 children screened, it was found that 51.76 per cent comprise male children with abnormal HbA1c levels, with the highest prevalence among children in the western zone.

Conducted by SRL Diagnostics between 2012-2014, the pan-India survey checked the response to diabetes therapy and diagnosis of pre-diabetes and diabetes in the children through HbA1c tests.

The western zone showed the highest level — 68.48 per cent abnormality, while the southern zone showed the lowest — 54.95 per cent of this abnormality.

The northern zone stood second with 64.71 per cent and the eastern zone followed with 61.48 per cent, said Leena Chatterjee, director - Fortis SRL Labs and SRL Strategic Initiatives.

Chatterjee said rapid urb-anisation, changes in eating habits, shifting focus on indoor activities with dramatic lifestyle changes as the attributes leading to chronic conditions associated with abnormally high levels of sugar in children.

Citing World Health Organisation data, she said in 2012 around 1.50 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes in the world with more than 80 per cent occurring in low- and middle-income countries.