A five-year follow-up of population with diabetes in three mega cities in South Asia has found that the overall prevalence had risen between 2010-11 and 2015-16 to just 1%.
However, the four care goals — glycaemic control (HbA1c), blood pressure, cholesterol and cessation of smoking — need improvement.
Diabetologists refer to the four care goals as ABCD — HbA1c below 7%; BP (below 140/90 mmHg); cholesterol (below 100mg/dl); and D (diet, in this case they looked at prevalence of smoking). The authors found that HbA1c control had risen from 25% during 2010-11 to 30% during 2015-16. The percentage of those who controlled their cholesterol rose from 34% to 45% but there was no significant improvement in blood pressure control. Also, the smokers in the studied population had not given up their habit.
The analysis, titled Temporal changes in diabetes prevalence and achievement of care goals in urban South Asia from 2010 to 2016-The Center for Cardio-metabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia Study , was published in the peer reviewed British journal Diabetic Medicine .
The project was coordinated by CoE-CARRS (Center of Excellence–Center for cArdio-metabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia) based at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi, in collaboration with the Centre for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC), New Delhi; the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), Chennai; Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan; and Emory University, Atlanta, U.S.
Anjana Mohan, first author and managing director of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, said, “Definitely, South Asia is making progress in terms of its ability to deliver health care and there are marked improvements in the past few years. There are many aspects that we need to achieve. We had two different cohorts in two different time points. We started in the base line and followed the same individual for a specified time.”
The Centre’s chairman and one of the authors, V. Mohan, said only 7% of those studied had all the four parameters under control.
The other two authors of the study were Mohammed K. Ali and K.M. Venkat Narayan, faculty of Global Health and Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. Mr. Venkat is the principal investigator of the CARRS study.
