What’s an effective therapy?

The Endocrine Society of India (ESI) in association with Novo Nordisk India commissioned an eight-city survey among physicians by IMRB. The objective of the survey was to understand the burden of diabetes in India and the optimum ways to treat and prevent it.

Commenting on the survey, Melvin D’souza, Vice President and General Manager Novo Nordisk India Pvt Ltd said, “In India, there is an immediate need for a concerted effort from all stakeholders involved to bring more awareness around diabetes and its staggering socio-economic burden.

Diabetes should not be considered a disease rather a related disorder that can be managed with simple modifications to one’s lifestyle and food habits. With early detection and on-time treatment, people with diabetes can live a healthy life.”

The ESI-Novo Nordisk India World Health Day survey that around 93 per cent of participating physicians agreed that incidence level of diabetes has grown manifold in the last two to three years. The situation is more severe in tier-1 cities with physicians seeing a 200 per cent increase in incidence levels.

While oral medication continue to be prescribed by the physician community for type 2 diabetes, around 50 per cent physicians switched their patients to insulin therapy within three years. The survey also indicated that over 40 per cent of participating doctors believed that insulin therapy can address diabetes related health complications, the most notable being prevention of kidney ailments.

Dr Shashank Joshi, President Endocrine Society of India said, “Stress, lack of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle are some of the plausible reasons behind this unprecedented rise.

It is heartening to note that help is at hand in the form of medications like insulin that allows people with diabetes to continue to live a healthy, complication free life. The survey has indicated that around 9 out 10 participants agreed that insulin is most effective in reducing blood glucose in people with diabetes.”

The survey adds that currently only one in three people with diabetes readily accept insulin when prescribed, with the biggest concern being fear and pain associated with taking injections.

Approximately 75 per cent participants feel that modern self-administration devices help diabetes management to a great extent and nearly four out of five agree that such devices have significant benefits over conventional injection methods; averting the risk of hypoglycaemia being the biggest advantage.