Clinical and biochemical profile of Indians with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A problem lurking for India

Background: To define the profile of type 2 diabetes mellitus population from the Gwalior region of Madhya Pradesh, as the previous published data shows a pattern and profile variability of type 2 diabetes mellitus from India. Materials and Methods: A case control study was carried out in the Department of Medicine comprising 50 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and 50 healthy controls. Results: The body mass index (BMI) of the study subjects was - cases - 23.94 ± 1.83 kg/m 2 , controls - 22.8 ± 1.38 kg/m 2 ( P < 0.001). Prevalence of an abnormal value of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was found to be 46% in the cases. Of the cases, 58% had poor glycemic control. The dominating symptoms were polyuria 30% (15, P < 0.05) and tingling and numbness 26% (13, P < 0.01). The most prevailing complications were retinopathy 26% (13; P < 0.01) and neuropathy 26% (13; P < 0.01). Dyslipidemia was present in the 88% of the cases. Discussion and Conclusion: This study found that a vast proportion of the cases had poor glycemic control. Central obesity was present in the studied population, with generalized obesity, making the population prone to insulin resistance. Presence of the classical symptoms of diabetes on the back-foot in the studied subject suggests that the disease might be on track of changing its trend or the patients are reporting at a late stage due to health disparities. Dyslipidemia in retinopathic subjects suggests derangement of the lipid profile, which is a risk for retinopathy. The most prevalent form of dyslipidemia in diabetic males was low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), while in females it was high low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and high triglycerides (TG). The pattern of dyslipidemia differed from typical diabetic dyslipidemia.