Screening among male industrial workers in India shows high prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance, undetected diabetes and cardiovascular risk clustering.

Objective: To study the magnitude of undetected diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors among male industrial workers.

Methods: Measurements of 2h post glucose blood glucose (2h PG), blood pressure, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were done in 8741 non-diabetic men of 35-55 years. Presence of family history of diabetes (FH) was noted. Risk associations with diabetes and IGT were studied using multiple logistic regression analysis. Clustering of overweight/obesity, abdominal obesity, hypertension was noted.

Results: Prevalence of undetected diabetes (14.9%) and IGT (31.4%) were high. FH, age, hypertension and BMI showed strong associations with diabetes and IGT. More than 40% had clustering of risk factors.

Conclusion: High prevalence of undetected diabetes, IGT and clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors among young industrial workers mandates that regular screening for metabolic disorders should be undertaken to prevent development of severe morbidity in the productive years of life.