Diabetes in India

EPID 3315B/GHS 9017B: Epidemiology of Major Diseases: Global Perspectives 1 Diabetes Assignment Due March 14, 2025 Please watch the following Youtube Video: LINK (Video called “Diabetes Hits Hardest in Poor Countries That Aren't Overweight. Why?” When watching the video, please provide a response to the following discussion questions and submit the document on OWL by Friday, March 14, 11:55 PM. This will count towards your participation grade. a. Describe how the diabetes in India is an example of the epidemiologic transition. The epidemiologic transition is when there’s a shift in pattern of disease from infectious to chronic, non-communicabl3e diseases as lifestyle (here a country) develops. In this video, India, shows rapid economic growth and urbanization, which have led change in lifestyle. These are decrease in physical activity and increased consumption of processed foods. It also points out that change in diet, reduced physical labor contributes to rise in type 2 diabetes, even for those are not overweight on BMI standards. b. Briefly describe the following concepts i. The Barker hypothesis Undernutrition in fetal life will lead to permanent physiological changes. This will increase the risk of Chronic disease (type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease) later in the lifetime. In the video, it points out that low birth weight in Indian population which is caused by undernutrition is responsible for risk for insulin resistance and diabetes of Indian population ii. Epigenetics Change in gene expression without altering original DNA sequence. Environmental factors (nutrition and exposure to chemicals) are responsible for this change. Here the video says how maternal nutrition (level of vitamin B12) during pregnancy could affect a child’s risk on developing diabetes. This means epigenetic modifications can pass disease susceptibility from one generation to next c. Describe some epidemiologic differences in the epidemiology of diabetes in India relative to North America. One of the differences in case of India is diabetes in Inda often occurs at younger age, at lower BMI level compared to cases in North America. In case of the U.S. obesity is major risk factor on type 2 diabetes, but in India, they have lower BMI level but have higher visceral fat level. The rapid economic growth has accelerated the diabetes within population than expected d. What are some explanations given for the high diabetes rates in India? It could be genetic susceptibility, where South Asians have relatively higher genetic predisposition to insulin resistance and visceral fat accumulation, regarding their lower BMI EPID 3315B/GHS 9017B: Epidemiology of Major Diseases: Global Perspectives 2 level. Additionally, it could be due to urbanization, where sedentary life style could have decreased the rate of infectious disease. With easier access to food(processed) might also have contributed to high diabetes rate in India e. What are some steps that public health practitioners could take to curb the growing diabetes epidemic in India (for high-risk individuals and the general population)? By educating communities on the risks of diabetes, especially focusing on those with normal BMI but with high visceral fat. This will be effective to India since, as they were just recently urbanized, educating the possibilities on chronic disease may reduce the cases of the diabetes in India with that, it will be effective to implement early screening and intervention. This will identify high risk individuals before they develop into disease.