From 1st February 2006 till 31st December 2008, 800 cases of diabetes mellitus who attended the diabetes clinic constituted the subjects for the present study. Majority of the subjects were from the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). UP is the fifth largest state of India, Lucknow being the capital of UP. The area of UP is 238,566 Km². Population of UP as per census of 2001 was 166,197,921 (Census of India, www.censusindia.net). Informed written consent, printed and read out in the local language (Hindi), as per GCP guidelines (www.fda.gov./oc/gcp) was obtained from every participant of the study. The study protocol was approved by a duly constituted human ethics committee prior to start of the study.