Fitterfly, a Mumbai-based health-tech startup working in the field of digital health and therapeutics, has released a study revealing the prevalence of pre-diabetes risks in Corporate India. The study analysed data of around 2020 (1384 males, 636 females) participants from leading corporates.

About 72.9% of the participants had a body mass index (BMI) of over 23 kg/m² which puts them in the obese or overweight category. These people have 1.9x higher risk of pre-diabetes than those with a BMI lower than 23kg/m².

Mid to senior management employees (age 40 years and above) are at a significantly 1.4-fold higher risk of prediabetes than people with age less than 40 years. Overall, 272 participants were found to be at high-risk, 1296 at medium-risk, and the remaining 452 at low-risk of diabetes.

The study also found significant prevalence of other risk factors for diabetes/pre-diabetes among corporate employees. For instance, 58.3% people had a family history of diabetes which makes them highly vulnerable to the disease. 46.9 % of participants performed physical activity below the recommended level of 150 mins per week.

Females (50.1%) lagged behind their male counterparts (45.4%) in performing the physical activities. A combination of risk factors is hazardous was also pointed out by the study since 31.6 % of total participants who had BMI higher than 23 Kg/m² and age greater than 40 years were at the highest risk for prediabetes. 

Speaking about the one-of-its kind study, Dr Arbinder Singal, Co-Founder and CEO, Fitterfly, said, “The changing workspaces and style of working in recent years is causing a lot of challenges for employees irrespective of their location. The need of the hour is to quickly identify these risks, and raise awareness about the perils of diabetes."