KARACHI: A study found that most of the young people diagnosed recently with Type 2 Diabetes in Karachi had all the risk factors for the cardiovascular disease.

The risk factors included, obesity, smoking, hypertension or high blood pressure as well as dyslipidemia or high cholesterol.

The study — Frequency of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors among young people with T2D at a Tertiary-Care Unit of Karachi — was presented at the 3rd Annual Conference of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine (PSIM) here on Sunday by researcher Dr Saima Askari, who got the first Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine (PSIM) Research Award.

Dr Askari, who is an assistant professor at the Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology (BIDE), said people ranging between 30 and 35 years, who were being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, also had poor glycemic control, while they also had family history of diabetes, making them more prone to develop cardiovascular disease and have heart attacks or strokes at an early age.

The study further says that around over 77 per cent of the 5,336 people diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes between the age group of 30 and 35 years were obese, 11pc were smokers and over 31pc had hypertension. Interestingly, over 90pc of the newly diagnosed diabetics were married.

Another study by Dr Irum Aamer from King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Lahore, was awarded the PSIM research award at the conference.

It said that more young men were committing suicides in Punjab as compared to women, with family disputes, domestic violence, relationship issues and financial instability as the most common factors behind growing number of such cases.

The study further said chemical poisoning was the most common method for committing suicide followed by strangulation and gunshots. It suggested for more research to prevent growing incidents of suicides in the young men in the largest province of the country.

Dr Ainan Arshad, Dr Saima Kazmi, Dr Durkho Atif, Dr Huzefa and Dr Ramsha Habibullah were also given awards.

Speaking on the occasion, PSIM president Prof Javed Akram said this session would encourage hundreds of young researchers and medical professionals to conduct research and present their findings before hundreds of top healthcare professionals of the country.

“Pakistan, despite being the third largest country in terms of population, is nowhere on the landscape of medical research. We are thankful to Pharmevo for their support and financing these awards, which are encouraging young researchers to come up with new and unique studies,” he added.

Dr Masood Jawaid informed the audience that over 122 studies were submitted for the research awards, of which 20 were shortlisted and seven of these studies were selected for cash prizes in two categories.

“We are struggling for the establishment of a healthy society in Pakistan and this cannot be done without initiating our own research and studies. We are providing research grants for young researchers and in this regard, we provide Rs300,000 for 18 months to the young researchers,” he added.

PSIM general secretary Prof Dr Somia Iqtadar, Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences editor-in-chief Shaukat Jawaid, Prof Aftab Mohsin and others also spoke.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2022