Declining Age of Onset of Type 2
Diabetes Mellitus in the North-West
Punjabi Population
425-429
Correspondence
Mrs. Sukhraj Kaur (PhD student)
Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry
Government Medical College Amritsar, Punjab, India
E-mail: sukhrajkaur2005@yahoo.co.in
Phone No.919646142606
Context: Diabetes mellitus, an inherited metabolic disorder which is associated with devastating complications, is one of the biggest burdens on the society, in terms of the expenditure of money on health care and wastage of the prime years of life. The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus is attributed to adverse lifestyles like obesity and physical inactivity and this is prevalent even among school going children, thus making them vulnerable to the disease at an earlier age.
Aim: The present study was designed to decipher the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in various age groups of the north west Punjabi population.
Settings and design: The subjects were selected by conducting a door to door survey of a few villages of the border belt of Amritsar and the Tarn Taran district. One patient of diabetesmellitus was considered as one family unit and the offsprings of these diabetic patients, who were siblings amongst themselves were recruited for the study.
Material and Method: All the selected families were required to fill up a consent form by the head of the family. Fasting samples of the participating families were collected and analyzed for fasting plasma glucose, glycated haemoglobin, complete lipid profile, serum insulin and C-peptide. Statistical analysis was done by using the Student’s t test. Results and conclusions The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the north-west Punjabi population was found to be 25%. IFG was more prevalent in females as compared to the males and the age of onset of diabetes mellitus was observed to decline both in males and females, as was evident from its occurrence in the age group of 19-24 years.