Higher prevalence of diabetes hypertension coexisting in Delhi-NCR adults, study finds

A Delhi-NCR study of over 56,000 adults has found diabetes and hypertension to be coexisting in more people than the researchers had expected, with the likelihood of having both conditions rising sharply after the age of 40.

The study, conducted by the Department of Clinical Research and Preventive Health Programme at Max Healthcare, analysed health records of 56,000-plus adults who underwent preventive health check-ups between January 2021 and December 2024 at select Max Healthcare hospitals and medical centres in Delhi-NCR.

Nearly five per cent of the adults had both diabetes and hypertension, which was almost twice the number that would have been expected if the two conditions occurred independently, according to the study published in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews.

The researchers found that the coexistence of the two conditions started rising sharply around the age of 40, continued to increase until about 58 years and gradually levelled off at nearly 17 per cent by around the age of 70.

The study also found that people with diabetes were nearly four times more likely to have hypertension than those without diabetes.

Similarly, people with hypertension were about 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes compared to those without hypertension, the researchers said.

The researchers said the findings show that the two conditions tend to occur together more often than would be expected based on their individual prevalence.

"More importantly, we found that this coexistence begins to increase sharply around the age of 40. These findings provide quantitative evidence supporting integrated screening strategies so that both conditions can be identified early and managed before serious complications develop," Dr Abhaya Indrayan, biostatistics consultant at Max Healthcare, said.

The researchers said while the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension individually has been widely studied, there has been limited evidence on how often the two conditions occur together in the Indian population.

The study also looked at age- and sex-specific trends to understand how the combined burden of the two diseases changes with age.

"Preventive healthcare must therefore move beyond screening for individual diseases in isolation," Indrayan said, adding that comprehensive health assessments were particularly important for adults above 40 years.

The researchers said screening for both blood pressure and blood sugar together could help in early detection and timely treatment and reduce the risk of complications such as heart disease, stroke and kidney disease.