Diabetes Prevalence in Urban India Soars With a 30 Percent Increase in Diagnosed Population In Four Years, According to Roper Diabetes Study by GfK HealthCare
19th Sep 2011, 10:34 (IST) |

London, United Kingdom - Business Wire (Business Wire India)

The prevalence of diabetes in urban India is
accelerating at a rapid
rate and now stands at 5.5 percent (just under 20
million people),
compared with 4.6 percent in 2007 – equivalent to a
30 percent increase
in actual population numbers over the last four years
– according to new
research by GfK HealthCare’s Roper Global Diabetes
Group.
Moreover,
a full 10 percent of these patients have been
diagnosed in the past 12
months.

According to GfK HealthCare’s 2011 Roper Global
Diabetes Patient
Study for India, insulin use has also made steady
gains in India
over the past decade – trending at almost a 50
percent increase – with
current rates at 23 percent, up from 16 percent in
2001. Patients in
India, more so than other emerging markets, depend to
a high degree on a
third party for administration of insulin (friend,
relative or health
care provider). Although 57 percent of patients
self-inject, the
remainder are injected either by a friend or relative
(24 percent) or
their health care provider (19 percent).

In the non-insulin sector, the use of oral medication
(OAA) has remained
at around 80 percent of diabetes patients in India
over the last four
years. Of note, although the Indian market has
traditionally been
comprised of patients on OAA monotherapy, 2011 figures
show nearly 60
percent are on combination therapy, up significantly
from the 2001
figures of 35 percent.

Also setting India apart from other diabetes markets
is the low rate of
blood glucose self-testing (includes testing by
relatives/friends),
where only 21 percent of patients self-test, a figure
which is flat
against 2007 rates though up from 2001, when
self-testing rates were
just 7 percent. More commonly, more than half of
diabetes patients in
India delegate the responsibility for blood glucose
testing to their
health care professional.

Another indicator of the infancy of the self-testing
market in India is
the low frequency of testing; an average of just 14
tests per month are
claimed by self-testers, compared with a
recommendation by health care
providers of 38 tests per month. It is worth noting
that cost may be a
limiting factor to testing, as compared to the more
developed markets;
almost all patients in India have to pay for their
testing meters and
strips.

646 Diabetes Patients Share Their Insights

Reflecting insights from 646 diabetes patients in
India, fielded via
in-depth face-to-face interviews in the last quarter
of 2010, GfK
HealthCare’s Roper Global Diabetes Group’s 2011
Patient Study for
India provides comprehensive perspectives of the
country’s diabetes
market. The study offers comparable data back to 1996,
across diabetes
markets in 25 total countries.

About GfK HealthCare

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