Online queries on lifestyle diseases shows significant jump in India, says Practo

India is becoming significantly more aware and intentional about lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart problems, with awareness signals across key conditions growing over 105% between 2023 and 2025, insights from the search results on healthcare delivery platform Practo shows. Diabetes, cardiac conditions, and hypertension have each seen 100% growth in search interest over the past two years, while obesity-related searches have grown 60%, it says.

According to Practo, this shift is reflected in specialist consultations, particularly in cardiac and diabetes care over the past year, with consultations growing 20%, alongside an overall increase in lifestyle disease consultations.

“While Tier 1 continues to account for a large share of overall volumes, awareness in Tier 2 cities is also deepening. Indians in Tier 2 are increasingly seeking to understand lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart conditions, and hypertension, with search growth over the past year significantly higher than Tier 1 - cardiac-related searches grew ~17x higher, while diabetes and hypertension searches grew ~2–2.5x higher," it says.

In the case of metabolism-related searches, Practo’s search data shows a 10x+ growth (2023–2025), insulin resistance searches 9x+ growth and obesity-related searches +60%. This shift is also reflected in how Indians are approaching weight management. Searches for structured and medical interventions have grown significantly, with nutritionist and dietician-related queries increasing 2x and fat-loss treatment searches seeing similar growth over the past two years, indicating a move toward more guided and specialist-led approaches.

This evolving intent is also reflected in medical engagement, with consultations across diabetology and endocrinology growing 10% and 7% respectively between 2023 and 2025, indicating a steady increase in Indians seeking medical pathways to manage metabolic conditions, Practo insights suggest.

“India’s chronic disease burden has been well documented, but what stands out here is a shift in how individuals are engaging with these conditions. Awareness is becoming more intentional, and more importantly, more connected to action. That transition from passive recognition to active engagement is a critical inflection point in how health outcomes can evolve at scale," says Dr. Vishal Jani, Head of Research at Practo.

“The increasing focus on metabolic health suggests a more integrated understanding of how these conditions are interlinked. This is important because it reframes the discussion from a symptom-based view to one that emphasizes integrated healthcare and informed individual decision-making. As this shift extends beyond metros, it creates the conditions for more consistent and structured engagement with healthcare, where specialised consultations are likely to play a central role”, he adds.