Many elderly Indians are ill and unaware about it, finds ongoing Longitudinal Aging Study in India
The latest LASI findings show a gap between self-declaration of chronic diseases and actual incidence measured through blood tests.
When India's first aging study — and the world's largest such study — began over eight years ago, researchers asked the 73,000 participants over 45 years of age to self-report conditions such as diabetes and anaemia. The findings, published in 2020-21, showed that 9.2% of those in the 45-59 age group and 14.2% of the 60-plus age group participants reported having diabetes.
However, as a part of LASI, blood samples of all the participants were collected and analysed for HbA1c — a biomarker test for diabetes. These findings, released last week, showed that 13.3% of the 45-59 age group and 16.2% of the 60-plus age group had high HbA1c, indicating diabetes, said IIPS professor Dr T V Sekher, who is the principal author of the report.
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The biomarker tests were conducted on dried blood spots of 64,399 samples and te-sted at Indian Council of Medical Research's National Institute of Translational Virology and AIDS Research laboratory in Pune.
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Overall, 8% of the adults (age above 45) have undiagnosed diabetes. The study found that the proportion of older adults (age 45 and above) with undiagnosed diabetes ranges from 3% in Himachal Pradesh to 15% in Andhra Pradesh.
More than one-tenth of the elderly (age 60+) have undiagnosed diabetes in Andhra Pradesh (16%), Telangana (14%), Chandigarh (12%), and 11% each in Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Tamil Nadu.
While haemoglobin (Hb) levels found in the study indicate a lower prevalence of anaemia compared to other surveys, it showed that 34% of elderly Indian men could have anaemia. "The prevalence of anaemia is 35% among women in the 45-59 age bracket, but increases to 40% among elderly women," said Dr Sekher.
LASI, which is sponsored by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, will continue for another two decades, with the same participants.
"India is rapidly aging, and we need to understand the disease patterns among the elderly. LASI's findings will help devise better public health plans for the elderly," he said. While the 60-plus account for roughly 10% of the total population, it's estimated that they will make up 20% of the population in 20-25 years.
This is the first time that the prevale-nce of diabetes and anaemia in a pan-India study was tested using blood samples. LASI covered 73,000 adults over 45 years and included 32,000 over 60 years or more. "LASI showed the difference between self-reported and actually measured prevalence of both diabetes and anaemia among older adults," said Dr Sekher.
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