1 in every 5 corporate employees at risk of diabetes: Study

Erratic and long working hours put one in every five employees of the corporate world at the risk of diabetes or hypertension, a study has claimed.
However, women in the corporate sector are comparatively less affected than men as the average health insurance claims for diabetes-related ailments made by men is almost 13 per cent higher than women.
These are the key findings of a study carried out by Apollo Munich along with Nielsen India Pvt Ltd to understand the awareness levels of diabetes among those owning or planning to buy health cover. The findings were released on the occasion of World Diabetes Day today.

Nearly eight lakh corporate health insurance customers were surveyed for the study.
The findings also revealed that incidence of diabetes takes a huge leap by 20 per cent in the age bracket of 46 to 60 years amongst the corporate workforce as compared to those between the age brackets 36 to 45 years.
Alarmingly, the incidences are 50 per cent higher for those in the age bracket of 56-60 years.

Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance, said, "Once contracted, diabetes is a long-term ailment, and therefore the average claim size is 90 per cent higher for diabetes as compared to expenses related to other diseases.

"It has been medically proven that diabetes can be controlled extensively with exercise and diet restrictions and through this current survey, we hope to address people's awareness levels on how to control diabetes," he said.
The research also reveals that while people are fairly aware of the causes and cures for diabetes only 19 per cent took part in a regular physical excercise regimen and also 61 per cent skipped their breakfast leading to growing incidence of Type 2 diabetes.