Socioeconomic inequality in awareness, treatment and control of diabetes among adults in India: Evidence from National Family Health Survey of India (NFHS), 2019-2021

Abstract

Diabetes is a growing epidemic and a major threat to most of the households in India. Yet, there is little evidence on the extent of awareness, treatment, and control (ATC) among adults in the country. In this study, we estimate the prevalence and ATC of diabetes among adults across various sociodemographic groups and states of India. We used data on 2,078,315 individuals aged 15 years and over from the recent fifth round, the most recent one, of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019–2021, that was carried out across all the states of India. Diabetic individuals were identified as those who had random blood glucose above 140 mg/dL or were taking diabetes medication or has doctor-diagnosed diabetes. Diabetic individuals who reported diagnosis were labelled as aware, those who reported taking medication for controlling blood glucose levels were labelled as treated and those whose blood glucose levels were < 140 mg/dL were labelled as controlled. The estimates of prevalence of diabetes, and ATC were age-sex adjusted and disaggregated by household wealth quintile, education, age, sex, urban–rural residence, caste, religion, marital status, household size, and state. Concentration index was used to quantify socioeconomic inequalities and multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted differences in those outcomes. We estimated diabetes prevalence to be 16.1% (15.9–16.1%). Among those with diabetes, 27.5% (27.1–27.9%) were aware, 21.5% (21.1–21.7%) were taking treatment and 7% (6.8–7.1%) had their diabetes under control. Across the states of India, the adjusted rates of awareness varied from 14.4% (12.1–16.8%) to 54.4% (40.3–68.4%), of treatment from 9.3% (7.5–11.1%) to 41.2% (39.9–42.6%), and of control from 2.7% (1.6–3.7%) to 11.9% (9.7–14.0%). The age-sex adjusted rates were lower (p < 0.001) among the poorer and less educated individuals as well as among males, residents of rural areas, and those from the socially backward groups Among individuals with diabetes, the richest fifth were respectively 12.4 percentage points (pp) (11.3–13.4; p < 0.001), 10.5 pp (9.7–11.4; p < 0.001), and 2.3 pp (1.6–3.0; p < 0.001) more likely to be aware, getting treated, and having diabetes under control, than the poorest fifth. The concentration indices of ATC were 0.089 (0.085–0.092), 0.083 (0.079–0.085) and 0.017 (0.015–0.018) respectively. Overall, the ATC of diabetes is low in India. It is especially low the poorer and the less educated individuals. Targeted interventions and management can reduce the diabetes burden in India.