Over 400 type-1 diabetes patients undergo annual health check at AIIMS camp

New Delhi: Over 390 people diagnosed with type-1 diabetes before turning 25 underwent annual checkups and were evaluated for complications resulting from the condition at a camp organised at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Saturday.

Braving Delhi's bone-chilling cold, children, adolescents and adults suffering from young onset of type-1 diabetes turned up at the venue in the morning hours to undergo several tests.

They were screened for hemoglobin A1c and for presence of proteins such as proteinuria or microalbuminuria in urine, underwent tests for measuring the amount of cholesterol and fats in blood (lipid profile) and assessing kidney function among others.

Around 200 people had attended the first of the yearly camp started by the endocrinology and metabolism department of the AIIMS in 2014.

This year, The attendees included registered patients at the Diabetes of Young Clinic at the AIIMS and similar clinics run by the pediatric department of the premier institute and at the Safdarjung hospital.

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Giving the camp an innovative colour, information on diabetes and its varied aspects were imparted to the crowd. They were educated on various issues ranging from injection technique, self monitoring of blood glucose, diet and physical activity among others.

Nukkad nataks and quiz competitions were also organised to sensitise people about the condition.

"The aim is to provide people with facilities for undergoing annual checkups and evaluate them for complications resulting from the type-1 diabetes at a single window on a single visit. This is a simple and cost-effective approach to generate good quality detailed data on the natural history of the disease and incidences of complications, " Dr Nikhil Tandon, professor and the head of endocrinology and metabolism department said.

Attending the camp on a day when ambient temperature had reached 2.4 degrees Celsius reflects the outstanding commitment and enthusiasm of our patients, he said.

According to Dr Tandon, poor follow-up as documented in the Registry of People with Diabetes with Young Age at Onset (YDR), established by ICMR, highlighted the need for newer and innovative strategies to ensure patients undergo annual reviews and are evaluated for complications resulting from the Type 1 Diabetes.

The registry was launched in 2006 to address the relative scarcity of information on youth-onset diabetes in India.

The major objectives of YDR are to generate information on disease pattern or types of youth-onset diabetes including their geographical variations within India and to estimate the burden of diabetes complications.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in its latest edition stated that there has been a 51 per cent increase in diabetes cases worldwide, with South East Asia showing an increase of 74 per cent.

In 2019, 88 million diabetes cases were reported in the South East Asia region with India recording 15,900 new cases of type-1 diabetes, along with 95,600 existing cases among children up to the age of 14.