NEW DELHI: India ranks first in reporting the highest number of deaths and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) due to type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a latest study.
The study, conducted by experts from 11 countries, including India, said that in 1990 the top five countries reporting the highest number of T2DM cases were China, followed by India, Indonesia, Japan and Pakistan.
However, in 2023, India surpassed China as the country with the highest number of diabetes cases.
The authors, who reviewed data from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD), 1990–2023, also said that India and China have the highest absolute disease burden for five common metabolic diseases - type 2 diabetes, high systolic blood pressure (SBP), high body mass index (BMI), high LDL cholesterol and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) - in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Prof. Anoop Misra, one of the authors of the study, India ranks first in absolute burden in reporting DALYs and deaths due to T2DM. In the other four metabolic diseases, China ranks first and India comes second - a serious cause for concern.
“Our analysis based on the latest GBD 2023 data shows that India carries one of the largest burdens of metabolic diseases in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2023 alone, type 2 diabetes in India accounted for over 21 million DALYs and nearly 580,000 deaths, reflecting an enormous health impact," he said.
"Importantly, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, abnormal cholesterol, and fatty liver disease are closely interconnected conditions, largely driven by unhealthy diets and low physical activity. These metabolic disorders eventually lead to serious complications such as kidney failure, heart attack and heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, stroke, and several cancers,” Dr Misra who is Chairman of Fortis C-DOC Centre of Excellence for Diabetes, told this paper
"The findings highlight the urgent need for strong prevention strategies focusing on healthier diets, increased physical activity, and weight control in India,” he added.
Metabolic diseases are conditions that disrupt the body's normal chemical processes, preventing it from properly breaking down food into energy. They range from inherited genetic enzyme deficiencies to acquired conditions like metabolic syndrome - obesity, high blood pressure/sugar, and high cholesterol.
According to the study, while India reported 21,345,118 DALYs and 5,78,367 deaths due to type 2 diabetes, China reported 10,940,382 DALYs and 1,72,911 deaths in 2023.
In 2023, in the Asia-Pacific region, T2DM was responsible for about 49 million DALYs across all ages, with males accounting for 54.1% (~26.7 million DALYs) of this burden.
However, high BP accounted for the largest burden (~138 million DALYs; 6.27 million deaths) in the Asia-Pacific region in 2023. It was followed by high BMI (~55 million DALYs; 1.33 million deaths), high LDL cholesterol (~53 million DALYs; 2.02 million deaths), T2DM (~49 million DALYs; 1.13 million deaths), and MASLD (~1.26 million DALYs; 47 thousand deaths).
From 1990 to 2023, total DALYs increased 1.7- to 3.7-fold, with absolute burdens highest in China, India and Indonesia, and relative burdens concentrated in the Pacific Islands, it said.
Projected trends through 2030 suggest that the burden of all metabolic diseases/risk factors, except MASLD, is likely to continue rising, with high systolic blood pressure remaining the dominant contributor.
Experts from research institutes around the world said that the latest GBD 2023 database and projections to 2030 indicate that five common metabolic diseases/risk factors will continue to pose significant health challenges, despite substantial geographical variations.
“Analysis of the GBD 2023 and 2030 projections shows that metabolic diseases/risk factors will remain a persistent challenge for the Asia-Pacific region, with substantial increases in DALYs and mortality. These findings call for coordinated, intensified global actions to address interconnected metabolic conditions and can have positive implications for the United Nations' 2030 health-related goals,” the study said.
Globally, in 2023, approximately 552 million people had T2DM, accounting for approximately 87 million DALYs and over 1.95 million deaths. MASLD affected approximately 1.26 billion individuals, resulting in about 3.58 million DALYs and 131 thousand deaths.
“Our findings call for intensified, coordinated global health actions to comprehensively address the spread of common, interconnected metabolic diseases, with positive implications for the United Nations' health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 2030,” it said.