Sri Lanka has a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes than previously estimated, including high rates among individuals with normal body weight, highlighting a major public health concern for South Asian populations.
High diabetes prevalence in Sri Lanka, including normal-weight adults, warrants broader screening; leaves open whether trends are rising or previously underestimated.
Study limitations included using only a single visit to assess diabetes, relying on self-reported fasting times, and unavailability of glycated hemoglobin for most participants. Our results indicate that Sri Lanka has a very high diabetes prevalence, significantly higher than previous estimates of 8%-15% and higher than current global estimates for any other Asian country. Our results have implications for other populations of South Asian origin, and the high prevalence of diabetes and dysglycemia at normal body weight indicates the need for further research to understand the underlying drivers.
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Rannan‐Eliya et al. (2023) studied this question.
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