Why India Needs to Take Prediabetes More Seriously

With close to 136 million Indians living with the metabolic dysfunction, it is time to push for regular health checkups

- Tanisha Saxena

Delhi-based Mansi Kashyap, 29, a chartered accountant, was in peak physical shape during her college years. But post-graduation, her life shifted. With career anxiety mounting and family pressures weighing her down, her once-vibrant energy began to fade. Already diagnosed with anxiety, she chalked up the fatigue and lethargy to mental health struggles. "I'd wake up tired and feel drained all day, despite my job being sedentary," she recalls. "Then my belly started changing shape. I took up brisk walking and even jumped rope, but nothing improved. For two years, I ignored these signs until I started experiencing excessive thirst and frequent urination." Alarmed, she finally went in for a full health check-up—the first in nearly a decade. The results were sobering: she had prediabetes.

Kashyap's experience is far from unique. Millions across India may be living in this silent zone of metabolic dysfunction unaware that they could be inching towards a chronic disease that could have been intercepted with timely action. According to a 2023 ICMR-INDIAB study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research, at least 136 million Indians, or 15.3% of the population, are living with prediabetes. "The prediabetic stage is crucial because it represents a window of opportunity: blood sugar levels are elevated but not yet high enough to be classified as diabetes," says Dr Paras Agarwal, clinical director & head of diabetes, obesity & metabolic disorders at Marengo Asia Hospitals, Gurugram. "While typically asymptomatic, individuals in this stage are at significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes."