Abstract

Background: Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in India is 8.7%. Around 52% of the cases of diabetes among adults in India are undiagnosed. A simplified Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) for screening of undiagnosed diabetic subjects was developed by Mohan Diabetes Foundation, Chennai. IDRS can be reliably used as an effective tool for the mass screening of diabetes in the community.

Objectives: To assess the risk for type 2 diabetes among study participants using simplified version of IDRS and to estimate prevalence of abdominal obesity and physical activity among males and females.

Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the field practice area of Urban Health Center of a medical college hospital in South India. Simple random sampling was performed to select the participants. Data collection tool had two parts. First part was about socio-demographic information and second part was “Simplified Indian Diabetes Risk Score”. Pearson’s Chi-square was used as a test of significance. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Total 145 persons participated in the study. The prevalence of people at high risk of diabetes was 34% in the present study. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 44% and 84% among males and females, respectively.

Conclusion: One-third of the participants were at high risk for diabetes. IDRS is a simple and easy to use tool to assess the risk of diabetes in the community.

Key words: Simplified Indian Diabetes Risk Score, abdominal obesity, physical activity, family history of diabetes