1 Annals of Community Health OCT - DEC 2020 | Vol 8 | Issue 04 Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in Indian Tribal Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Nalini Tripathi 1 , Jugal Kishore 1 *, Vinod Chaitanya 2 , Prem Kumar 3 , Bontha V. Babu 4 INTRODUCTION D iabetes mellitus (DM) is an endocrinological and/ or metabolic disorder characterized by raised blood glucose levels. Globally, around 422 million people have DM. It is predicted that it becomes 7 th leading cause of death worldwide by the year 2030. India is also facing the burden of DM. There are two types of diabetes, namely, Type I and Type II. Type II diabetes accounts for almost 90% of all the diabetes cases in the world. [1] The causes may be both nature and nurture. At present, there are 366 million people living with DM globally and this number is expected to increase to 552 million by 2030, that is, a 51% increase. [2] According to a research, 10% of Indian youth population aged 10–19 years are pre-diabetic, a condition wherein the blood glucose level has increased but not high enough for diagnosis of diabetes. This portends an increased number of cases in the coming years, exacerbated by rising numbers of conditions, such as obesity, which are risk factors for developing diabetes. [3] The disease is affecting at an alarming rate to both rural and urban populations in India. [4] In past, so many years diabetes is considered to be the disease of old aged people but nowadays it has been seen in the young- and middle-aged population especially the type 2 DM and is the major cause of mortality and morbidity among them. [5] India is considered to be one along with the largest cases of type 2 diabetic subjects thus having the lead position of being termed the “Diabetes capital of the World.” At present, India has around 40 million cases of diabetes and if urgency about the prevention has not declared the cases of ABSTRACT Background: There is an increasing trend in the prevalence of diabetes worldwide. India has the largest number of patients with diabetes in the world, accounting for more than 50 million participants. There are limited studies on diabetes awareness, attitude, and prevalence in tribal communities. Objective: The objective of the study was to estimate the burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) in tribal populations of India. Method: A literature search of Pub Med and Google Scholar databases from 2000 to 2019 using the Medical Subject Heading – prevalence, non-communicable diseases, diabetes, tribal, and adult population, India, was conducted. Out of the total 38 published studies which reported the prevalence of diabetes in Indian tribal population, 21 were included in the review. Data Extraction: All the data were extracted by the investigators using a standardized protocol and data collection form. Results: Total 21 studies with the sample size varying from 101 to 8000 were included in the review. The reported prevalence of DM in tribal populations varied from 0.7% to 13.9% in different regions and states of India. Final estimate of diabetes prevalence obtained after pooling of data from individual studies was 5.7% (95% CI; 5.4%–6.0%). Conclusion: The prevalence of DM in Indian tribal population is as high as in other urban and rural populations and needs preventive measures to control the problem. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, prevalence, systemic review, tribal population Annals of Community Health (AoCH) pISSN 2347-5455 | eISSN 2347-5714 An Indexed (Index Medicus, DOAJ and More), Peer Reviewed, Quarterly, International Journal focusing exclusively on Community Medicine and Public Health REVIEW ARTICLE 1 Department of Community Medicine, 2 Department of Medicine, 3 Administration, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, 4 Division of Socio-Behavioral and Health Systems Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi Correspondence: Dr. Jugal Kishore, Department of Community Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India. E-mail: drjugalkishore@gmail.com How to cite: Tripathi N, Kishore J, Chaitanya V, Kumar P, Babu BV. Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in Indian Tribal Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Community Health 2020;8(4):1-9.