Indian women more prone to gestational diabetes than Swedish women

High blood glucose incurred during pregnancy, known as gestational diabetes, is typically affected by differing lifestyle and genes. But the extent of such differences was only realised after a recent study by Lund University Diabetes Centre (LUDC), Sweden, which examined pregnant women in India and those in the countries of Scandinavia.

The large study comparing gestational diabetes in Europeans and non-Europeans included some 5,700 willing participants from the Nordic regions, such as Sweden and Finland, and Punjab in northern India – of these, 274 participants had gestational diabetes.The women were subject to a glucose tolerance test in the course of the study.

Surprisingly, the results show that the incidences of gestational diabetes were notably higher in Indian women than in Swedish women. Indian women were on average ten years younger when the disease manifests and were also leaner and more insulin-sensitive. The low BMI and increased insulin sensitivity could jointly indicate a more serious defect in insulin secretion.

Moreover, further examinations of risk genes for gestational/ type-2 diabetes points to a link which may explain gestational diabetes in Indian women, but not in Swedish women,while another gene, vital to the circadian rhythm, was found to have a protective effect in Indian women but is associated with increased risk in Swedish women.

An LUDC researcher, Rashmi Prasad, thinks that the opposing effects of that one gene in the Indian and Swedish populations could be attributed to the changing seasons of the European countries, unlike the definite hot/wet climate of India.

India currently has nearly 1.3 billion inhabitants with great genetic differences – most northern Indians share similar genetics with people from the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of Europe, while southern India’s population records more proprietary genetics.Sadly, Indiaalso has the highest number of people with type-2 diabetes in the world, and the figures are increasing, still.

Geeti Aurora, a physician in the Indian state of Punjab, and researcher at LUDC, explains that, “People with Asian origin have two to seven times greater risk of developing the disease compared to Europeans,” but the chronic disease can be managed with a good amount of discipline and proper treatments.

Category: Community, Features