Tamil Nadu might be at the top of healthcare provider's list, but it also happens to have the high number of diabetics, shows a study conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, here, supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research, released on Monday.

The study on prevalence of diabetes in Tamil Nadu shows that 9.8 per cent of the population in the State are diabetic, which amounts to 42 lakh. The urban Tamil Nadu has 13.5 per cent and rural parts 6.9 per cent.

Thirty lakh people in the State are in the high-risk pre-diabetes stage, with a break-up of 8 per cent in urban areas and 6.4 per cent in rural belt.

R M Anjana, diabetologist and ICMR-INDIAB, who headed the research team at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, said that the study was the first representative on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and pre-diabetes from Tamil Nadu. About 1,200 from urban areas and 2,800 from rural areas were studied in a door-to-door survey.

The study also found that abdominal obesity in the State was as much as 22.4 per cent in males and 35.3 per cent in females. In addition, the report revealed that 27.8 per cent of Tamil Nadu population have hypertension and 20.1 per cent have hyper cholesterolemia, which were pre-disposing factors to diabetes.

The study, which also assessed the level of diabetes control, showed that nearly one-third have good control of diabetes, one-third have an average control and one-third have poor control.