Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and Its Risk Factors among Permanently Settled Tribal Individuals in Tribal and Urban Areas in Northern State of Sub-Himalayan Region of India

Background. Effect of urban environment on the development of DM and its risk factors is studied with an ecological fallacy due to their study designs that formulate the background for the present study. Objective. To study the prevalence of DM and associated lifestyle related risk factors in traditional tribal individuals residing in tribal area and migrating persons of the same tribe to urban area of sub-Himalayan northern state of India. Methodology. Population based cross-sectional study. Results. A total of 8000 individuals (tribal: 4000; urban: 4000) were recruited. Overall, among urban tribes the prevalence of central obesity (59.0%), overweight (29.3%), stage 1 (22.8%) and stage 2 (5.3%) hypertension, and DM (fasting: 7.8%; OGTT: 8.5%) (P = 0.00) was significantly higher than the tribes of tribal area. Based on OGTT, the prevalence of DM was found to be 9.2% among central obese tribes of urban area and 6.7% of tribal area (P = 0.00). DM showed a significant high prevalence among urban tribes with prehypertension (urban: 8.3%; tribal: 2.9%; P = 0.00), and stage 1 (urban: 14.1%; tribal: 8.7%; P = 0.00) and stage 2 (urban: 17.5%; tribal: 13.9%; P = 0.59) hypertension. Conclusion. Urban environment showed a changing lifestyle and high prevalence of DM among tribal migrating urban tribes as compared to traditional tribes.