Introduction: In a hugely populated country like India with over 1.2 billion people with diverse cultures, the screening and diagnosing methods for diabetes should be non-invasive, simple, cost-effective and less time-consuming. Indian Diabetic Risk Score (IDRS) developed by Dr V Mohan using four simple parameters, namely age, family history of diabetes, waist circumference and physical activity based on a multiple logistic regression model used to help identify undiagnosed diabetes in the community. Objective: To assess the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in South Indian rural population using Indian Diabetes Risk Score. Methodology: This community based cross-sectional study conducted in rural population covered by 3 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) namely Vantamuri , Handignur & Kinaye which are field practice areas of Dept of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical college, KLE University, Belgaum-Karnataka to assess the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus using IDRS. A total of 750 non-diabetic subjects aged 20 years and above were included in the study. The study Period was 1st August to15th November 2013. Data was collected using pre-tested questionnaire by house to house survey. Results: Out of 750 subjects recruited for the study, 53.33% of the participants belonged to PHC Vantamuri, 33.33% belonged to PHC Handignur and 13.34% belonged to PHC Kinaye. Nearly 50.5% were males and 49.5% were females. Among the study participants 21.8 % were doing regular exercise as well as strenuous work, 68.4 % were doing regular work / strenuous work and 9.8 % did not exercise and were sedentary workers. Out of 371 female participants, 46.9 % had waist circumference below 80 cm, 43.1 % had waist circumference between 80-89, and 10% had above 90 cm. Out of 379 male participants, 61.5 % had waist circumference below 90 cm, 32.5 % had between 90-99 and 6 % had above 100 cm. Out of 750 study participants majority (74.0%) had no family history of diabetes, 22.5 % had one parent as diabetic and 3.5 % of the people had both parents as diabetic. In this study 37 .1% of the study participants were at low risk, 37.7% were at moderate risk and 25.2 % were at high risk of developing diabetes. Conclusion: A diabetes risk score will help in devising effective screening strategies to unmask the hidden burden of the disease. The risk factor approach needs aggressive identification for planning prevention strategies and for an early diagnosis.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Risk score; Physical activity; Family history; Abdominal  obesity.