Characteristics and correlates of diabesity in India: A secondary data analysis of world health survey

One of the most tangible and demonstrable health effects of obesity is increased insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Even a modest reduction in body weight, can lead to significant improvements in blood glucose.We used cross-sectional data from the 2007 SAGE Wave 1 survey of India carried out by World Health Organization. Data were collected from 12,198 respondents (4,717 men, 7,481 women) aged 18 years and over. Our main outcome measure was to examine the prevalence of obesity and overweight among people with diabetes in comparison to healthy population and to explore the distribution of risk factors (alcohol, tobacco) in both the groups. We used χ22 test to examine differences. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among diabetic group was 10.37% and 29.12% respectively, which was higher than apparently healthy people (Overweight-9.63% & Obesity), and found to be statistically significant (p <0.001). Difference in obesity prevalence was significant among both males (apparently healthy people-9% vs diabetic group 20.57%) (p <0.001) and females (healthy people - 12.21% vs diabetic group - 40.16%) (p <0.001). Both alcohol and tobacco consumption was more prevalent among diabetic overweight and obese (32.7%) group compared to apparently healthy overweight and obese group (14%).Weight management in the form of dietary advice and physical activity prescription and lifestyle change counselling should form the integral part of treatment plan for the overweight diabetics.