ICMR issues guidelines for management of type 1 diabetes in India

New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday (June 6) issued guidelines for the management of type 1 diabetes in India. The guidelines come at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected people with diabetes population, exposing them to a high risk for severe illness and mortality.

The research body ICMR has released guidelines for type 1 diabetes for the first time. Earlier, the same was released for type 2 diabetes.  India is home to the world`s second-largest adult diabetes population and every sixth person with diabetes in the world is an Indian.

ICMR issues guidelines for the management of Type 1 Diabetes. The guidelines come at a time when the #COVID19 pandemic has disproportionately affected people with diabetes population, exposing them to a high risk for severe illness and mortality. pic.twitter.com/5Kqm0PIk7G — ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2022

More than one million children and adolescents in the world have type 1 diabetes, and recent estimates from the International Diabetes Federation suggest that India has the highest number of cases of type 1 diabetes in the world, said ICMR in the guidelines.

Balram Bhargava, Department of Health Research Secretary and ICMR Director General, released the guidelines for the management of type 1 diabetes. As per the ICMR report, the past three decades witnessed a 150 per cent increase in the number of people with diabetes in the country.

ICMR released guidelines for the management of type 1 diabetes. pic.twitter.com/6dqGbnuWwM — ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2022

The growing prevalence of pre-diabetes indicates a further increase in diabetes in the near future. Diabetes in India has traversed from high to the middle income and underprivileged sections of society, IANS report said citing ICMR guidelines.

The ICMR in the guidelines has underlined that progressive lowering of age at which type 2 diabetes is presenting, with an inflection in disease prevalence becoming apparent in the age group of 25-34 years in both urban and rural areas is a matter of immense concern.

The ICMR type 1 diabetes guidelines is a comprehensive document providing advice on care of diabetes in children, adolescents and adults. All chapters in these guidelines have been provided with formation to reflect advances in scientific knowledge and clinical care that have occurred in the recent past.

Notably, diabetes was responsible for more than four million deaths in 2019 acorss the globe. It has been the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease, adult-onset blindness and cardiovascular diseases.

(With IANS Inputs)