Endocrine Society of India (ESI) in association with Novo Nordisk India has recently commissioned an eight-city survey among physicians to understand the burden of diabetes in India and the optimum ways to treat and prevent.

Melvin D’souza, vice president and general manager, Novo Nordisk India Pvt Ltd says, “This year, the theme for World Health Day is ‘Beat Diabetes’. In India, there is an immediate need for a concerted effort from all stakeholders involved to bring more awareness around diabetes and its staggering socio-economic burden. Diabetes should not be considered a disease rather a lifestyle related disorder that can be managed with simple modifications to one’s lifestyle and food habits. With early detection and on-time treatment, people with diabetes can live a healthy life.”

The burden of diabetes is reaching alarming proportions in India driven by rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Stressful lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity are some of the plausible reasons behind a growing percentage of Indians developing diabetes. According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), one in 11 adults has diabetes.

The ESI-Novo Nordisk India World Health Day survey too reveals similar findings. Around 93 per cent of participating physicians agreed that incidence level of diabetes has grown manifold in the last 2-3 years. The situation is more severe in tier-1 cities with physicians seeing a 200 per cent increase in incidence levels.

The survey also affirmed that even though all newly diagnosed people with diabetes were advised lifestyle modifications, but nearly 7 out of 10 people with diabetes found it challenging to implement.

While oral medication continue to be prescribed by the physician community for type 2 diabetes, around 50 per cent physicians switched their patients to insulin therapy within three years, keeping in mind the long-term benefits of insulin.

 The survey also indicated that over 40 per cent participating doctors believed that insulin therapy can address diabetes related health complications, the most notable being prevention of kidney ailments.

Dr Shashank Joshi, president of Endocrine Society of India says, “It is alarming to note that in tier-1 cities, physicians are seeing a 200% increase in incidence levels of diabetes. Stress, lack of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle are some of the plausible reasons behind this unprecedented rise. It is heartening to note that help is at hand in the form of medications like insulin that allows people with diabetes to continue to live a healthy, complication free life. The survey has indicated that around 9 out 10 participants agreed that insulin is most effective in reducing blood glucose in people with diabetes. We need to make people with diabetes understand the nature of the disease and ensure adherence to the medical regime.”

The survey further adds that currently only 1/3 people with diabetes readily accept insulin when prescribed, with the biggest concern being fear and pain associated with taking injections. Although the participating physicians believed that these concern areas can be addressed by using modern insulin devices.

Approximately 75 per cent participants feel that modern self-administration devices help diabetes management to a great extent and nearly 4/5 agree that such devices have significant benefits over conventional injection methods; averting the risk of hypoglycaemia being the biggest advantage.