There is a huge need for epidemiological research in rural parts of India for non communicable diseases, especially diabetes, hypertension and renal impairment. Intuitively, one would expect a lower prevalence of such diseases in the rural population, who traditionally lead a more active lifestyle than urban population. However our own pilot project in farming villages around Madurai have shown prevalence of diabetes and hypertension to be as high as 25 % & 35 % respectively ( Accepted for publication, Practical Diabetes 2015).
This is extremely worrying as the burden of cardiovascular disease, renal failure and foot amputations increases exponentially with such a high prevalence. This is precisely the population where economic aspects of complications can be catastrophic. We therefore propose to study the prevalence of diabetes, impaired Glucose Tolerance, hypertension and renal impairment in a rural population of Tamilnadu. This project will be the first of its kind in rural Tamilnadu which will raise plenty of research questions about the burden of non communicable diseases in a rural population.
