More young people now get deadlier version of diabetes
NEW DELHI: Type-2 diabetes that normally afflicts older adults is striking young Indians and it’s striking them harder.
Though young people with type-2 diabetes do not need insulin to survive, they are at greater risk of life-threatening complications, such as kidney damage and heart disease, than people with insulin-dependent diabetes.
One in every four (25.3%) people under 25 with diabetes in India has adult-onset type-2 diabetes, which, by definition, should strike only older adults with a family history of diabetes, obesity, and unhealthy diets, data from the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR’s) youth diabetes registry shows.
“Youth-onset type-2 diabetes is no longer rare. Family history is strong and obesity, metabolic syndrome and acanthosis nigricans (dark, velvety skin patches) are usually seen in young patients with type-2 diabetes,” says Dr Tanvir Kaur, deputy director general, ICMR.
Type-2 diabetes in the young is more aggressive than in adults, the registry shows. “In the young, it is a different beast altogether. The risk of complications for younger persons with type-2 diabetes is twofold to threefold higher than type-1 diabetes,” says Dr Nikhil Tandon, professor and head of endocrinology and metabolism, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, which is partnering in the registry.
There are 70 million adults in India with diabetes, which affects 422 million people worldwide. Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system destroys the cells producing insulin.
was 8 years old when he was diagnosed with type-I diabetes. It started with feeling lethargic and sleepy, frequent urination, and frequently throwing up. His family thought it was typhoid or jaundice. Instead, the diagnosis showed he had to monitor his food and blood glucose levels for life.
After the diagnosis, his worried parents did not send him go to school for two months. They thought it would be impossible for a child to keep a check on his sugar levels during classes.
When Chadha finally went back to school, his mother stopped by every day to bring him lunch home and check his blood glucose levels. She ensured all the teachers and staff at school knew about his condition so that they could help, if needed.
“Except for the two jabs of insulin and three to five pricks to check his sugar every day, it was soon business as usual. I knew instinctively how much of what I could eat and if someone offered me more, I refused,” said Chadha.
What changed his life was an insulin pump, which he bought in 2013 just before he started working at a corporate office.
“Taking insulin got a little problematic in public as people would wonder what I was up to if I took a shot in a public place. With the insulin pump, I can change the dosage of insulin just by pressing two buttons,” said Chadha.
“Now nobody needs to know I have diabetes. The insulin pump made everything discreet,” he said.