New Delhi, Apr 29 (IANS): A sample survey by the government, conducted in schools in three cities, has shown that more than one percent of children suffer from diabetes, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad informed the Lok Sabha Monday.

Azad, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said that under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke, a study was conducted on 92,047 school children in Nainital (Uttarakhand), Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh), and Bhilwara (Rajasthan).

"According to the study, 1,351 (1.467 percent) of the students were suspected to be diabetic," Azad said.

The minister also said that a report of the International Diabetes Federation for South-East Region of WHO, comprising 11 countries of which one is India, estimates the prevalence of type-1 diabetes in children to be 1,11,500.

"An estimated 18,000 children under the age of 15 were newly diagnosed for type-1 diabetes in the year 2011 in the said region," The minister said.

He added that the government in 2010 launched a National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) to prevent lifestyle diseases.

Asked if there was any study on growing sleep disorders, the minister said no such study had yet been conducted.