The latest finding that up to 4.2% of secondary school students in Qatar could be prediabetic is yet another alarming reminder that more needs to be done to help prevent a disease that afflicts between 15 and 17% of the adult Qatari population.
The statistics is from a collaborative study conducted by Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) and Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA).
Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar level is elevated more than normal but not sufficiently high to be labelled as diabetes.
The research involved four independent schools and a total study sample of 1,694 students aged between 11 and 18.
Of the participants in the study, 988 were Qatari citizens and 706 came from mostly Middle Eastern countries. Strikingly, almost half of the students were overweight. In the case of the boys, 46% were either overweight or obese. In the girls, 44% were classed as overweight or obese.
In all 56 boys – 6% out of a total of 974 - and 15 girls – 2% out of a total of 720 - were found to have the high blood-sugar levels associated with prediabetes. The researchers were also able to identify the risk factors associated with prediabetes.
The study, published in the prestigious Journal of Royal Society of Medicine, has been authored by Drs Javaid Sheikh, Ravinder Mamtani and Sohaila Cheema from WCMC-Q and Dr Abdulla al-Hamaq, Sharoud Matthis and Katie El-Nahas from QDA.
As Dr Mamtani, associate dean for Global and Public Health at WCMC-Q, rightly pointed out, the research was on a topic of huge public health importance to Qatar and the wider region.
The researchers used a questionnaire to collect the demographic and health information, for example the weight and height of a student, how much exercise they did and their basic lifestyle.
Being male significantly increases the risk. Apart from being male, other characteristics associated with prediabetes was having a parent who was diabetic and having a girth to height ratio greater than 0.5. This means that a child who is 160cm tall should have a waist measurement of no more than 80cm.
Just because those with the prediabetic condition were more likely to have certain characteristics does not mean that they were the only risks associated with the condition. According to Dr Sohaila Cheema, director of Global and Public Health at WCMC-Q, regular exercise and a balanced, nutritious diet played a huge role in the prevention and progression of type 2 diabetes.
Considering that habits are formed within the formative years, it is important to encourage children to make the right lifestyle choices.
QDA is set to expand the study and conduct it in more detail, asking participants for more information about their diet, frequency and type of exercise they do and other lifestyle choices. There will also be advice for those who are pre-diabetic.
For prediabetic children, QDA will conduct an intervention programme to delay the onset of diabetes, and for diabetic children we have already set up programmes, such as Al-Bawasil Annual Camp to delay the onset of the complications.
While all these initiatives are good, more needs to be done to combat the menace of diabetes, a chronic disease that affects quality of life substantially.
