Prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes in tribal population of Kashmir: Lessons for the future.

<bold>Aims: </bold>Considering a surge in the incidence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) across all ethnic groups and lack of any representative data from the tribal communities of Jammu and Kashmir, the present study aimed to assess the prevalence of DM and prediabetes in them.<bold>Methods: </bold>Subjects were recruited from five districts of Kashmir valley using multistage cluster sampling by probability proportional to size (PPS) technique. Data collection included recording of socio-demographic, medical facts, assessment of anthropometric parameters and biochemical evaluation HbA1c and random blood glucose measurements as per the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria were used for diagnosis of DM.<bold>Results: </bold>A total of 6808 subjects were recruited in this study including 2872 (42%) men and 3936 (58%) women with mean age of 39.60 ± 20.19 years and 35.17 ± 16.70 years, respectively. Around 8.60% subjects were obese, 38.9% were found to be hypertensive, 73% had dyslipidemia and 3.75% had metabolic syndrome. About 1.26% (0.5% males and 0.9% females) had DM and 11.64% had prediabetes based on HbA1c cut offs. Increasing age, body mass index and family history portend significant risk factors while smoking and sedentary lifestyle increased the risk marginally.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Although the prevalence of DM among tribals of Kashmir valley is lower than general population, the higher prediabetes to DM ratio may indicate a future trend of increasing DM prevalence in this disadvantageous subpopulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]