DOHA: An online survey conducted by a regional research and consulting group among 165 Qatar residents suggested that a good number of them were diabetic.
The survey was conducted by the UAE-based YouGovSiraj during the current month.
Majority of the respondents (52 percent) said they were personally diabetic or know someone in their immediate family or friends who suffer from diabetes.
Nine per cent of the respondents claim they are diabetic themselves, while the remainder indicate that their spouses (11 percent), friends (16 percent), parents (43 percent) or other family members (44 percent) suffer from the disease. The survey underlines the high prevalence of diabetes in Qatar and calls for a more study on the disease.
The Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA) has already announced plans to conduct a comprehensive study to gather accurate information about the prevalence of diabetes in Qatar.
According to available statistics, around 17 percent of the Qatari population is diabetic. This data was based on a joint survey conducted in 2008 with participation of QDA. No data is available about the prevalence of the disease among the large expatriate population in the country. QDA believes that diabetes is on the rise in Qatar and the prevalence could be higher than what the available statistics suggest