National screening of diabetes should start at 25 yrs to help control/ avoid complications

With recent trends indicating the prevalence of diabetes in young people, doctors and researchers have suggested the national screening age to be reduced to 25 years.
At present, the screening for lifestyle ailments including diabetes and hypertension, is stipulated at 30 years or above, offered free at government clinics.
In a study published in the journal Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews, the doctors say screening for diabetes in India should start at 25 years, to help in controlling the disease and preventing complications. Besides, it should be particularly targeted towards overweight and obese individuals, and those with a family history of diabetes.
This is based on an analysis of data which showed an increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in individuals who are 30 years and less, with a majority of them being overweight.
The National Programme for Prevention and Control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke (NPCDCS) says screening for cancers (breast, cervical and oral), diabetes and high blood pressure, of target population (age 30 years and above,) will be conducted either through opportunistic and/or camp approach at different levels of health facilities and also in urban slums of large cities. The screening of the urban slum population would be carried out by the local government/municipalities in cities with a population of over 1 million.
``Diagnosing early makes sense since by controlling diabetes early would delay and avoid complications, which will save not only a great amount of money incurred on complications and hospitalisation, but also on productivity losses'', Dr Anoop Misra, chairman of Delhi-based Fortis Centre of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology (C-DOC) told TOI. Moreover, diabetes as seen during Covid-19 is far more severe than the one before the pandemic.
``India is a high-risk population. Early screening will lead to better and quicker diagnosis and management and also will prevent complications’’, co-author and endocrinologist Dr Shashank Joshi said.
Recently, in August, the United States Preventive Services Task Force reduced the screening age from 40 to 35 years. They also say that Asian Americans should be screened at even younger ages.
Indians get diabetes a decade younger, hence the screening age was about a decade lower (30 years vs, 40 years in US), Misra noted.
Worse still, over half of cases of the dreaded disease go undiagnosed in India, data suggests.
The study was jointly done by Fortis C-DOC, India National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation, Diabetes Foundation (India), India Diabetes Research Foundation, among others.
Evidence suggests that type 2 diabetes can often be prevented, while early diagnosis and access to appropriate care for all types of diabetes can avoid or delay complications, the International Diabetes Federation said recently, noting the alarming growth in the prevalence of diabetes, ahead of World Diabetes Day on November 14.
During 2015-2016, over 1.29 crore people were screened in the designated NCD Clinics under NPCDCS. Among the NCD clinic attendees, about 8% were diagnosed with diabetes and 12% with hypertension. However, it must be noted that this program was launched almost a decade back, and since then diabetes has shown a rising trend, the study points out. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of patients visiting a tertiary care center in Chennai between 2009-2018 showed an increasing trend in the number of patients under 30 years.