Know the signs and symptoms of diabetes.
Diabetes mellitus is a serious metabolic disease, affecting people of all geographic, ethnic or racial origin and its prevalence is increasing globally1. Burden from this costly disease is high on the low and middle income countries (LMIC) where the impacts of modernization and urbanization have caused marked adverse changes in lifestyle parameters. In 2013, of the estimated 382 million people with diabetes globally, more than 80 per cent lived in LMIC. It was estimated that India had 65.1 million adults with diabetes in 2013, and had the 2nd position among the top 10 countries with the largest number of diabetes. This number is predicted to increase to 109 million by 2035 unless steps are taken to prevent new cases of diabetes1. Primary prevention of diabetes is feasible and strategies such as lifestyle modification are shown to be effective in populations of varied ethnicity2,3. However, for implementation of the strategies at the population level, national programmes which are culturally and socially acceptable and practical have to be formulated which are currently lacking in most of the developed and developing countries. Early diagnosis and institution of appropriate therapeutic measures yield the desired glycaemic outcomes and prevent the vascular complications4. Type 2 diabetes which accounts for 85-95 per cent of all diabetes has a latent, asymptomatic period of sub-clinical stages which often remains undiagnosed for several years1. As a result, in many patients the vascular complications are already present at the time of diagnosis of diabetes, which is often detected by an opportunistic testing. Asian populations in general, particularly Asian Indians have a high risk of developing diabetes at a younger age when compared with the western populations5. Therefore, it is essential that efforts are made to diagnose diabetes early so that the long term sufferings by the patients and the societal burden can be considerably mitigated.