Obesity is becoming synonym for diabetes in rural areas of india also an alarming situation

The prevalence of obesity amongst DM population is high; however the indicators to suggest obesity are based on western population. To determine prevalence of obesity amongst diabetic rural and urban population by taking Indian indicators (Modified ATP III criteria for South Asian population) for determining obesity, study was undertaken at rural based Medical college and hospital situated at Piparia, in Vadodara district, Gujarat, India. The obesity is determined by NCEP and IDF (Modified ATP III) criteria which is recommended to be used for South Asians. The study also aimed at finding out whether Waist Circumference (WC) is sufficient enough to measure obesity instead of BMI to detect obesity in Diabetic patients, when we use Modified ATP III criteria. A total of 350 patients attending the diabetes clinic were categorised in for sub groups: 1.Urban obese, 2.urban Non-obese, 3.Rural obese, 4.Rural Non-obese, by using BMI and waist circumference criteria for south Asian phenotype in Modified ATP- lll and NCEP criteria. Around 70% of these diabetic patients were obese by the above mentioned criteria, making Diabesity a better terminology to define the Indian diabetic patients. Statistically significant increase in prevalence of obesity in diabetics (Diabesity) is noted when Indian indicators were used. This was true for both the indicators BMI as well as WC which noted 17% and 32% more obesity respectively. Further in our study, waist circumference (70%) is found to be marginally better indicator for diagnosis of obesity than BMI (68%). The present study emphasises on use of Modified ATP- III criteria for south Asian population for early detection of obesity, which is beneficial in starting primordial and primary preventive measures for Coronary Artery Disease. Our study also suggests that only a simple measurement of waist circumference can suffice detection of obesity in diabetics. Our study also highlights the alarming increase in the prevalence of obesity in even rural parts of developing countries, such as India due to effect of urbanization & changing lifestyle.