The first study of its kind in India- conducted in Delhi and the southern city of Chennai- has found that Inhaling polluted air increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The research found that inhaling air with high amounts of PM2.5 particles led to high blood sugar levels and increased type 2 diabetes incidence. It found that when inhaled, PM2.5 particles – which are 30 times thinner than a strand of hair – can enter the bloodstream and cause several respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
The study is said to be part of ongoing research into chronic diseases in India that began in 2010. It is the first to focus on the link between exposure to ambient PM2.5 and type 2 diabetes in India, one of the worst countries in the world for air pollution.
The study showed that while the average annual PM2.5 levels in Delhi was 82-100μg/m3, it was 30-40μg/m3 in Chennai.
India’s national air quality standards are 40μg/m3. Many times, the WHO limits of 5μg/m3.
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A paper published in the Lancet in June found that there is also a high burden of non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in India; 11.4% of the population – 101 million people – are living with diabetes, and about 136 million are pre-diabetic. The average diabetes prevalence in the European Union was 6.2% in 2019, and 8.6% in the UK in 2016.
The Lancet study found India’s diabetes prevalence to be higher than previous estimations and showed a higher number of diabetics in urban than rural India.
In the BMJ study, the researchers followed a cohort of 12,000 men and women in Delhi and Chennai from 2010 to 2017 and measured their blood sugar levels periodically. Using satellite data and air pollution exposure models, they determined the air pollution in the locality of each participant in that timeframe.
Also, they found that one month of exposure to PM2.5 led to elevated levels of blood sugar and prolonged exposure of one year or more led to increased risk of diabetes. They found that for every 10μg/m3 increase in annual average PM2.5 level in the two cities, the risk for diabetes increased by 22%.
“Given the pathophysiology of Indians – low BMI with a high proportion of fat – we are more prone to diabetes than the western population,” said Siddhartha Mandal, lead investigator of the study and a researcher at Centre for Chronic Disease Control, Delhi.
He noted that the addition of air pollution – an environmental factor – with lifestyle changes in the past 20 to 30 years is fuelling the increasing burden of diabetes.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
