Diabetes Early Detection and Prevention

Good afternoon everybody. I am Dr Anirban Biswas and I am a diabetologist, practising in South Delhi. Today we are going to discuss the screening and diagnosis of Prediabetes and Diabetes.

Most of my patients send me their reports and tell and that they have a fasting sugar of 128 and a PP sugar of 142, whether they are diabetic or not. So, by listening today's topic, you will be able to know whether you are a diabetic or not. Let me tell you first that diabetes is a deadly disease and as you all know that India is a diabetic capital of the whole world. Every 7th second, one person dies due to diabetes in this world. And it is a huge burden on us. And most of the diabetic care and treatment is born by the patients in India. On an average Rs, 10,000 per year is the annual cost of the treatment without any complication. So, it is a huge amount, hence, we need to find out whether we have diabetes or not.

So, the first thing is that whether you have diabetes or not. So, the first question is that if anybody can have diabetes? So the answer to this question is that, yes anyone can suffer from Diabetes. There are some symptoms of Diabetes, those are;

• Weight loss
• Lethargic
• Thirst
• Excessive urination

But often, diabetes is silent. It has been found out by various researchers that half of the population does not know that they are diabetic patients. Not only in India but also in the US. It is very important to find out that who are diabetic. It is a very simple way to find out whether you are diabetic, pre diabetic or have normal sugar level.

The value what I am going to tell you that how you get to know that you are diabetic.

• First thing is the fasting blood glucose. This can be done in any lab. So, you can go in the morning without taking any meal. One thing you need to remember that if your fasting blood glucose is less than 100 then it is normal. If your fasting blood glucose is between 100-126 mg then you are prediabetic. And if the fasting blood sugar is more than 126 then it means that you are a diabetic patient.
• The second way to know whether you are diabetic or not is the HBA1C. It is also known as Glycosylated Haemoglobin. Again it is a routine test which is done in all the labs. If the value of HBA1C is below 5.7 then you are non-diabetic, if the HBA1C level is between 5.7- 6.5 then you are prediabetic. And if the HBA1C level is above 6.5 then you are a diabetic patient.
• The other test is OSTT, which is done at a certain level when there is some amount of doubt. The Oral GTT test is by means 75 g of glucose is fed to you and the sugar is checked after 2 hours. So, after 2 hours of feeding the glucose, if the sugar level is less than 140 then you are normal. If the sugar level is between 140-200, then you are prediabetic, and if the value is more than 200 then you are diabetic.

Which individual should get screened for diabetic and pre diabetic?

Any individual above the age of 40 years. And from your weight and height, anybody can calculate the BMI ( Body Mass Index). If the BMI is more than 23 then you should go for screening even if your age is not 40+. If you have symptoms of Diabetes, or if any blood relative is having diabetes or is pre-diabetic should go for a checkup.

And last but not the least, who has a history of GDM i.e, Gestational Diabetes Mellitus which is very common in females throughout the whole world, after the pregnancy they should regularly get screened for diabetes. So these are the people who should get screened for Diabetes. And by getting a screen from Diabetes we can save ourselves from the complications of Diabetes.

Diabetes can cause so many complications, especially the cardiac and heart-related complications. You can have a stroke, heart attack, neuropathy, kidney failure, also you can have blindness or retinopathy, amputations i.e, your arm or leg can be cut because of diabetes.

So friends may be with this I can conclude that you have learnt something from my talk. And please remember that you should get yourself screen with diabetes. Next I will talk about the type of Diabetes.

If you want to consult me or have any query, You can contact me through Lybrate.