Mumbai:
Due to rapid urbanization and dramatic lifestyle changes, a formidable of around 66.11 per cent of Indian children exhibit abnormally high levels of sugar in their body, a study says.
Change in eating habits and shifting more focus to indoor activities have resulted in dramatic lifestyle changes leading to chronic condition associated with abnormally high levels of sugar in children, the study conducted by SRL Diagnostics said.
The leading diagnostic chain has released a three-year long pan India data mining survey on Hba1C tests that revealed that around 66.11 per cent children possess abnormal levels of sugar in their body.
The test is done to check and monitor response to diabetes therapy and diagnose pre diabetes and diabetes in children.
Diabetes is becoming a silent epidemic and according to World Health Organization (WHO), 80 per cent of all new cases of diabetes are predicted to occur in the developing countries by 2025, it said.
In 2012, an estimated 1.5 million deaths globally were directly caused by diabetes and more than 80 per cent of diabetes deaths occur in low and middle income countries. It is also projected that diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death in 2030, the report said.
Approximately 17 thousand samples of Indian children were screened during this period for the analysis.
It was also found that a total of 51.76 per cent samples having abnormal HbAlc levels was found in male children.
The analysis showed that prevalence of this abnormality was highest among children in western zone of the country.