Abstract

Crisis of Women Diabetics in India : A Review

Author(s): B. G. Solomon Raju, Y. B. Manju Latha, G. Leela Jacob and A. Shoba Nandini

International Diabetes Federation (IDF), which tracks the global spread of this scourge, says that by next year, the country India will be home to 50.8 million diabetics, making it the world's unchallenged diabetes capital. The number is expected to go upto a whopping 87 million i.e. 8.4% of the country's adult population by 2030. The disease will prove costly for India, both in terms of lives lost and money wasted. In India, it will kill around 10.07 lakh people in the age group of 20-79 years every year in which the majority being women (5.81 lakh) from 2010. In women with previous gestational diabetes (pGDM), the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes is greatly increased, to the point that GDM represents an early stage in the natural history of Type 2 diabetes. In addition, in the years following the index pregnancy, women with pGDM exhibit an increased cardiovascular risk profile and an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. This paper will review current knowledge on the metabolic modifications that occur in normal pregnancy, underlining the mechanism responsible for GDM, the link between these alterations and the associated long-term maternal complications. In women with pGDM, accurate follow-up and prevention strategies (e.g., weight control and regular physical exercise) are needed to reduce the subsequent development of overt diabetes and other metabolic abnormalities related to cardiovascular disease.