Indian Diabetes Risk Score Announced

EHM News Bureau

The WHO collaborating centre for diabetes in India, Diabetes Research Centre (DRC) and M V Hospital, Royapuram, have taken another major step in its diabetes prevention initiatives. The centre announced the Indian Diabetes Risk Score developed in collaboration with University of Cambridge and University of Sydney, Australia. The diabetes risk score is based on simple measurements to identify people with undiagnosed diabetes in the Indian population. Previously, Diabetes Risk Scores have been developed in Cambridge, UK and Denmark, which are used in the white European populations. The Risk Score, based on research, covering sample group taken from across the country, has been subsequently tested on two select population groups for validation.

Prof Ambady Ramachandran, Director, DRC and M V Hospital for Diabetes Chennai said, "India is faced with a diabetes epidemic and needs to handle it on a war footing. Currently, it is estimated that 12 per cent of urban adults have diabetes and about one-third of them are not detected. Even in the rural population the prevalence ranges between two to six per cent and more than 50 per cent of them remain undetected."

Considering the limitations of the healthcare systems in India, a universal survey of the population is not feasible and economical. Developing a risk score suitable for the Indian population is the best solution, which would ensure the high-risk groups are identified and at least the minimum care provided," Prof Ramachandran added.

The unique feature of the Indian risk score is that the scores are given by collecting very simple formation such as age, weight, family history of diabetes, physical activity levels, as shown in table given below. By adding up the scores, persons likely to have diabetes can be identified. Therefore, only those with higher scores need to be tested. Additionally, the risk score can be applied to the population to identify people having undetected diabetes. Application of the score is also cost-saving.

Data from a national survey sample having approximately 10,000 subjects, which included people from Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Hyderabad was used for the research. The score is based on the relative role of major risk factors for type-II diabetes.

Application Of The Score And Detection Of Type-II Diabetes

A score > 21 has high sensitivity and specificity to identify high-risk subjects. Therefore, only those people with a score 21 and above need to be tested. The likelihood of detecting diabetes in such people is very high.