Prediabetes And Undiagnosed Diabetes Mellitus Among White-Collar Employees : A Covert Peril

Introduction: Globally half of all cases of diabetes mellitus are either undiagnosed or cases of prediabetes. These cases represent the unseen but clinically important burden of diabetes, with significant concurrent metabolic derangements and a long-term impact on health care and its costs. Objectives: With an aim to estimate the frequency of prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes in the adult population with sedentary life style, a camp was organized at a private firm to screen the employees by estimating fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Materials and methods: A total of 218 individuals were selected for analysis after excluding the known diabetic cases. Height, weight, pulse, blood pressure (BP), waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Plasma fasting sugar and fasting serum lipid profile were analyzed. The HbA1c was estimated in hyperglycemic subjects. Results: The frequency of hyperglycemia in the study population was found to be 28.4%. The total frequency of prediabetes was 17.4% and that of undiagnosed diabetes was 11%. The raised sugar could be significantly associated with age, high blood pressure, BMI and hypertriglyceridemia. Triglyceride and VLDL depicted significant odds ratio (OR) to predict the risk factor for diabetes. Conclusion: The hidden burden of diabetes in population with sedentary life is quite high. This if not taken care of would result in a public health catastrophe.