Impacts of urbanisation on the lifestyle and on the prevalence of diabetesin native Asian Indian population

Recent studies from the Asian subcontinent show an increasing prevalence of diabetes. This increase has been attributed to factors related to lifestyl e changes related to modernisation. A periurban rural population resembling the rural in their occupation, but with access to certain urban facilities was chosen for this study. The aim of the study was to assess the impact o f modernisation on the rising prevalence of diabetes in the native Indians. A total of 1637 adults aged 20 years and above (749 men and 888 women) wer e tested for diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) by 2 h post-gluc ose challenge. Demographic, anthropometric, dietary and occupational detail s, were recorded. Dietary habits were similar in all categories of socio-ec onomic strata. In the present study group, the age standardised prevalence of Type 2 diabetes was 5.9%, which was intermediate to that in the urban (1 1.6%) and rural (2.4%) populations. The prevalence data of the latter two p opulation were available from previous surveys. Prevalence of impaired gluc ose tolerance (IGT) was high (6.9%) and similar in ail three population sam ples. In the periurban population, a large percentage of subjects were doin g only routine household work and had a sedentary life-style. After correct ing for the age and BMI, sedentary work and occupation had a significant as sociation with diabetes, suggesting that sedentary lifestyle may be an impo rtant determinant for the higher prevalence of diabetes in an urbanising po pulation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.