{"id":106530,"date":"2026-08-24T18:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marham.pk/healthhub\/?p=106530"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:21:08","slug":"early-onset-diabetes-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marham.pk/healthhub\/early-onset-diabetes-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Early-Onset Diabetes in Pakistan: Why It’s Hitting Younger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your father probably got his diabetes diagnosis in his mid-fifties. Your uncle, maybe late forties. But today, endocrinologists in Karachi and Lahore are routinely seeing patients in their late twenties and early thirties walking in with type 2 diabetes \u2014 not prediabetes, actual diabetes. Something has changed, and it has changed fast.<\/p>\n

Pakistan already carries one of the heaviest diabetes burdens in the world. According to the International Diabetes Federation (2023), roughly 33 million Pakistani adults are living with diabetes, with a national prevalence of 26.7% among adults aged 20 to 79. What the headline number hides is the generational shift underneath it: early-onset diabetes, diagnosed at age 35 or younger, is now a recognised public health crisis in the country.<\/p>\n

The reasons are not mysterious. They are specific, they are Pakistani, and most of them are things you can actually do something about. This piece walks through what is driving the shift and what practical steps reduce your risk \u2014 whether you are 28 or 48.<\/p>\n

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Quick Answer<\/p>\n

Early-onset diabetes in Pakistan refers to type 2 diabetes diagnosed at age 35 or younger, a pattern now rising sharply due to a combination of South Asian genetic susceptibility, rapid dietary shifts toward ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks, physical inactivity, poor sleep, and urban lifestyles. Pakistani clinical guidelines now recommend diabetes screening from age 30, not 45, because of this trend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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