OBJECTIVES

: The large contribution of the world’s diabetic population resides in India making India as diabetic capital of the world. There is large burden of undetected diabetic cases in community, which prompts to assess the early diabetes risk in vulnerable population. Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) has developed Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) to detect undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes. This study was aimed to assess the risk of diabetes in North Indian population.

METHODS

: This community-based cross-sectional study enrolled adult population aged between 20 to 55 years. Simple random sampling was performed to select the participants. The assessment of risk of diabetes was carried out in and around Chandigarh by employing IDRS tool which consist of two modifiable (waist circumference, physical activity) and two non-modifiable risk factors (age, family history) for diabetes. Pearson’s Chi-square was used as a test of significance. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

: A total of 478 (males=78.24%) participants were enrolled. Mean and SD for age of the study subjects were 27.08 ± 7.77 years, BMI 22.97 ± 8.25 kg/m², waist circumference [(males 82.77±6.84 cm), (females 0.95 ± 0.06 cm)]. A total of 343 (71.8%) had IDRS score below 30, ninety four (19.7%) having 30-59 and forty-one (8.58%) with a score greater than 60. Participants having history of smoking, illiteracy, less physical exercise and House workers were found to be on high risk of Type 2 diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS

: A very less proportion of the participants were at high risk for diabetes. IDRS is a simple and easy to use and cost effective tool to assess the risk of type 2 diabetes in the community.