Noted endocrinologist, and Professor in the Department of Endocrinology, SK Institute of Medical Sciences, (SKIMS), Soura, Prof. Shariq Rashid Masoodi today that one out of 11 adults across the world is suffering from type-2 diabetes commonly known as diabetes mellitus.“About 46.5 per cent adults suffering from diabetes across the globe are undiagnosed,” Prof. Shariq Masoodi said while delivering an extension lecture on “Lifestyle Disorder – Beat Diabetes” to the students of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) at Sonwar academic block of the varsity. The extension lecture was organised by the Department of Biotechnology.Coordinator Department of IT, Prof. A M Wani, Coordinator, Department of Biotechnology, Dr. Shah Ubaid Ullah, faculty members of other departments and students were also present on the occasion.Quoting the research, which was led by scientists from Imperial College London, and involved Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the World Health Organization and nearly 500 researchers, including him across the globe, Prof. Shariq Masoodi said that by 2020, one adult out of 10 that is 642 million people across the globe would be suffering from diabetes mellitus. Dr. Shariq said that, after every six seconds, a person dies from diabetes, adding that three quarters of people with diabetes live in low and middle income countries. He further revealed that 542000 children across the world have type 1 diabetes.
Describing diabetes as a global epidemic, he said that the number of diabetics is more in China, followed by India, USA, Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, Japan, Russia, Egypt and Mexico. He said the research was published in the journal The Lancet, compared diabetes levels among adult men and women from 1980 to 2014, adding that diabetes results in a person being unable to regulate levels of sugar in their blood, and increases the risk of heart and kidney disease, vision loss, and amputations. He added that the global cost of diabetes is now 825 billion dollars per year.Dr. Shariq said that growing prevalence of overweight and obesity is the main cause of surge in the cases of diabetes and hypertension. Quoting another survey conducted by him and former head of the Department, Endocrinology, SKIMS, Prof. Abdul Hamid Zargar about prevalence of obesity in adults, aged 40 & above -an epidemiological study from Kashmir Valley, he said that the overall prevalence of obesity was 15 per cent (males, 7 per cent and females 23.7 per cent) Prof. Shariq Masoodi said that diabetes can be delayed or prevented in people who are overweight and have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). “Diet and physical activity are more effective than medication in the treatment of this lifestyle disease,” he said.He attributed the growing prevalence of obesity to the lack of physical activities.Dr. Shariq Masoodi also answered the questions of the students during the extension lecture.Dr. Shah Ubaid Ullah, conducted the programme proceedings and also thanked Prof. Shariq Masoodi for delivering an informative lecture to the students, sensitising them about the lifestyle diseases, particularly the diabetes mellitus. (KNS)