Anees A Siddiqui, Shadab A Siddiqui, Suhail Ahmad, Seemi Siddiqui, Iftikhar Ahsan, Kapendra Sahu
The prevalence of diabetes is rapidly rising all over the globe at an alarming rate. Over the last three decades, the status of diabetes has been changed, earlier it was considered as a mild disorder of the elderly people. Now it becomes a major cause of morbidity and mortality affecting the youth and middle aged people. According to the Diabetes Atlas 2006 published by the International Diabetes Federation, the number of people with diabetes in India currently around 40.9 million is expected to rise to 69.9 million by 2025 unless urgent preventive steps are taken. The main force of the epidemic of diabetes is the rapid epidemiological transition associated with changes in dietary patterns and decreased physical activity as evident from the higher prevalence of diabetes in the urban population. The most disturbing trend is the shift in age of onset of diabetes to a younger age in the recent years. This could have long lasting adverse effects on nation’s health and economy. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the diabetic patients at the earliest and provide appropriate lifestyle intervention in preventing or postponing the onset of diabetes. In the present review, detailed mechanism and management of the diabetes have been emphasized.
