Sikkim reports highest number percent of diabetes

Sikkim reports highest number percent of diabetes, hypertension as per NPCDCS screening

Joseph Alexander, New Delhi Saturday, October 12, 2013, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

Belying the common notion that South Indian States reported maximum number of diabetes cases, Sikkim emerged as the State to have maximum percentage of suspected diabetic patients, if the ongoing screening for diabetes and hypertension by the Union government is any indication. According to the figures based on the screening so far done under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), screening for diabetes & hypertension among the population above 30 years of age has been initiated in 100 districts of 21 States. 3,81,12,537 persons have been screened for diabetes and 20,14,385 persons have been screened for hypertension till the end of August. The screening found that 6.32 per cent of the population having suspected of diabetes and 5.91 per cent as suspected of hypertension. Standing high above the national average, 13.67 per cent people among those screened had diabetes while 18.16 per cent of them have hypertension. Out of total 127,393 people screened, 17414 persons have suspected cases of diabetes while 32,225 have hypertension. Karnataka (9.36 per cent), Punjab (9.36 per cent), Gujarat (9.10 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (7.42 per cent) reported high incidence after Sikkim in the case of diabetes. Madhya Pradesh with just 2.57 per cent reported the least number of cases. In the case of hypertension, Assam came second with 10.42 per cent of prevalence, after Sikkim. According to report published by International Diabetes Federation (IDF; 5th Edition, 2011), number of people with diabetes (20-79 years) in Urban setting of India are about 27 millions in 2011 which is projected to reach about 56 millions in 2030. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has completed the phase I of Task Force project entitled, “ICMR-India Diabetes (INDIAB) Study-Phase-I,” with the aim to determine the national prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and pre-diabetes in India, by estimating the state-wise prevalence of the same and  compare the prevalence of type-2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in urban and rural areas across India. In the first phase of the study, the rural and urban settings in four states and one union territory viz., Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Chandigarh have been included. The adjusted prevalence of diabetes (both known and newly diagnosed) in Tamil Nadu was 10.4 per cent, Jharkhand - 5.3 per cent, Chandigarh - 13.6 per cent and Maharashtra - 8.4 per cent. The prevalence of pre-diabetes was 8.3 per cent, 8.1 per cent, 14.6 per cent and 12.8 per cent respectively. Data reported during the course of screening of school children under NPCDCS indicates that out of 92,047 school children screened in the towns of Nainital, Ratlam and Bhilwara, 1,351(1.467 per cent) were suspected to be diabetic. States No. of persons screened Suspected for Diabetes % of Diabetes suspected Suspected % of Hypertension Hypertension Suspected Andhra Pradesh 6,919,210 513,301 7.42 527,738 7.63 Assam 1,268,479 62,465 4.92 133,080 10.49 Bihar 2,249,272 131,244 5.83 63,605 2.83 Chhattisgarh 970,028 57,444 5.92 41,527 4.28 Gujarat 2,633,861 239,634 9.1 176,588 6.7 Haryana 1,290,313 61,920 4.8 80,514 6.24 Himachal Pradesh 169,195 9,779 5.78 8,416 4.97 Jammu & Kashmir 559,208 31,389 5.61 45,922 8.21 Jharkhand 1,166,716 63,451 5.44 67,444 5.78 Karnataka 2,692,871 251,943 9.36 96,207 3.57 Kerala 3,300,811 157,984 4.79 107,138 7.23 Madhya Pradesh 1,651,784 42,478 2.57 47,437 2.87 Maharashtra 3,033,450 170,982 5.64 223,087 7.35 Sikkim 127,393 17,414 13.67 32,255 18.16 Orissa 2,362,801 138,791 5.87 71,517 3.03 Punjab 880,192 82,396 9.36 81,490 9.26 Rajasthan 1,209,737 60,416 4.99 61,640 5.1 Uttarakhand 241,706 13,960 5.78 7,659 3.17 Tamil Nadu 2,664,499 152,576 5.73 39,791 8.14 Uttar Pradesh 1,269,989 54,854 4.32 54,659 4.3 West Bengal 1,451,022 95,043 6.55 46,671 3.22 Grand Total 38,112,537 2,409,464 6.32 2,014,385 5.91

PORT of call for HAPPINESS....

Each of us wants some peace and happiness in life. Still, happiness often evades us. “Is there a simple, straightforward road-map to get happiness and peace in life,”  ‘Reducing PORT is one of the ways’. PORT stands for Possessions, Obligatory Duties,Relationships and Transactions. How to reduce these?

Happiness is a state of mind; it does not come from possessions. There are severe limitations of happiness sought in place, things, beings, relationships, social status, financial status, situations, circumstances, conditions, environment, etc.

First, time, effort, money and some pain are involved in acquiring objects. Many waste their entire life in pursuit of desirable objects. There is no guarantee that even after getting those objects or positions, we would be happy.  Wemay feel ‘let-down’ after spending so much of time, effort and money. One may think, ‘this is not what I laboured for’.  Also, objects of desire keep changing, and so also our goal posts. The chase continues and   every new possession brings with it its own burden. If someone has a big house with swimming pool and ten bed rooms; imagine his plight in maintaining it. He is busy all the time cleaning, fixing, protecting. Does the house serve us, or do we serve the house? Again, objects make us dependent on them. Any kind of dependency is a cause of bondage and any kind of bondage is a cause of misery. For instance, once we are used to a particular standard of living, it is inconvenient not to have certain objects such as air conditioners in our life. Hence objects usually create bondage.

Relationships are meant to make our life happy. But do they? We have to maintain some blood relations for social cohesion, but we create other new relationships, which complicates life. Every new relationship has to be maintained. We have to remember to wish people on their birthdays and anniversaries or else they will take offence, participate in functions like marriage and engagement, or reach out in case of sickness or loss. Also we experience sadness or pain when the person with whom we have a relationship does not reciprocate. It is said that grief is never caused by outsiders or unknown people. It is caused by people with whom we have a relationship. Depending on our attitude, our relationships might cause us more pain than pleasure. The thing or being to which we are most attached will be the cause of our biggest misery in life.

Every possession and every new relationship creates its own obligatory duties. We have to insure our vehicles, for example, remember to send it for regular service. Similarly we have to attend to the expectations of relationships. These add to our list of obligatory duties. We cannot avoid basic, minimum obligatory duties towards the office, business, parents, spouse or children. But our optional duties also become obligatory when we maintain too many possessions and relationships.

We should also be careful in accepting new roles in life just for the sake of ego-satisfaction. If we are made President/ Secretary/member of a Society/village/city, we may feel good, but that adds to our obligatory duties also. Performance of each of these duties becomes a transaction. This way we try to cope with a large number of transactions in our life, and get exhausted at the end of the day. Where is the time to be happy?

This is not to say that we should have no objects or relationships in our lives. However, the idea is to be aware of their limitations and not to get too much attached to them. We should strike a balance in everything. 

The mind will be peaceful only if we are able to discriminate between what is necessary and what is unnecessaryin our lives.  

Reducing Possessions, Relationships, Obligatory Duties and Transactions (PORT) is a practical way to look at life and happiness.

That is the PORT of call for HAPPINESS.