Rakesh Pulichikkat1, Suresh Padmini2, Sachin Venugopal Menon3, Rahul Abbas4
BACKGROUND
Type 2 diabetes mellitus threatens to cause increasing levels of morbidity and mortality in the near future as measures to control this global pandemic is currently not effective. The risk factor approach needs aggressive identification for planning prevention strategies and for early diagnosis as there is a disturbing trend in shift of diagnosis to a younger age. It is therefore mandatory to check for prevalence and assess the predisposing factors that lead to this disease in the young adults.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among the medical students in central Kerala using the Indian diabetic risk score to identify naive diabetics and to aid in counselling those at risk. A total of 262 students were screened among which 81 were males.
RESULTS
The observational study identified 3 naive cases of type 2 DM and 10 students who were at high risk. The study also helped in understanding the characteristics of the students 36 of whom had a BMI >25. The PPBS obtained from the students also were positively correlated to the IDRS and BMI, however, were not significant.
CONCLUSION
The results show that the younger population in central Kerala face a crisis in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The incidence of type 2 DM is rising and there is a strong need to create more awareness in the society in general to help reduce the incidence of new cases.
