BY TONNY ABET
A new report has shown a high prevalence of diabetes among lean people, contrary to the conventional picture that links the disease to obesity, a new report indicates.
Dr Davis Kibirige, a specialist in diabetes management, who led the diabetes study, told Daily Monitor that of the 500 study participants with type 2 diabetes, 160 (32percent) and 340 (68percent) were lean and non-lean, respectively.
Dr Kibirige is a researcher at the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, in Entebbe. Lean people are those with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25kg/m2.
Type 2 diabetes presents with symptoms such as increased thirst, frequent, frequent urination, increased hunger, unintended weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision and tingling or numbness of the hands or feet.
Dr Kibirige said study dubbed the Uganda Diabetes Phenotype (UDIP) research, was done between February 2019 and October 2020 in Mengo, Rubaga, Nsambya, Masaka, Kirrudu, Kisubi and Namongona hospitals.
