More than a third of adults estimated to have prediabetes
|
|
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, an estimated 79 million U.S. adults have prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes raises a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Diabetes affects 8.3 percent of Americans of all ages, and 11.3 percent
of adults aged 20 and older, according to the National Diabetes Fact
Sheet for 2011. About 27 percent of those with diabetes – 7 million
Americans – do not know they have the disease. Prediabetes affects 35
percent of adults aged 20 and older.
“These distressing numbers show how important it is to prevent type 2
diabetes and to help those who have diabetes manage the disease to
prevent serious complications such as kidney failure and blindness,”
said Ann Albright, Ph.D, R.D., director of CDC’s Division of Diabetes
Translation. “We know that a structured lifestyle program that includes
losing weight and increasing physical activity can prevent or delay type
2 diabetes.”
CDC is working on the National Diabetes Prevention Program, as stated in
the Affordable Care Act. This program, based on the NIH-led Diabetes
Prevention Program research study, is aimed at helping people reduce
their risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
In 2008, CDC estimated that 23.6 million Americans, or 7.8 percent of
the population, had diabetes and another 57 million adults had
prediabetes. The 2011 estimates have increased for several reasons:
* More people are developing diabetes.
* Many people are living longer with diabetes, which raises the
total number of those with the disease. Better management of the
disease is improving cardiovascular disease risk factors and reducing
complications such as kidney failure and amputations.
* Hemoglobin A1c is now used as a diagnostic test, and was
therefore incorporated into calculations of national prevalence for the
first time. The test, also called glycated hemoglobin, measures levels
of blood glucose (sugar) over a period of two to three months. Because
of this change, estimates of populations with diabetes and prediabetes
in the 2011 fact sheet are not directly comparable to estimates in
previous fact sheets.
In a study published last year, CDC projected that as many as 1 in 3
U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue.
Type 2 diabetes, in which the body gradually loses its ability to use
and produce insulin, accounts for 90 percent to 95 percent of diabetes
cases. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include older age, obesity,
family history, having diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes), a
sedentary lifestyle, and race/ethnicity. Groups at higher risk for the
disease are African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians/Alaska
Natives, and some Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Other data from the fact sheet:
* About 215,000 Americans younger than age 20 have diabetes. Most
cases of diabetes among children and adolescents are type 1, which
develops when the body can no longer make insulin, a hormone that
controls the amount of blood glucose.
* An estimated 1.9 million Americans were diagnosed with diabetes
in 2010.
* Racial and ethnic minorities continue to have higher rates of
diabetes after adjusting for population age differences. For adults,
diabetes rates were 16.1 percent for American Indians/Alaska Natives,
12.6 percent for blacks, 11.8 percent for Hispanics, 8.4 percent for
Asian-Americans, and 7.1 percent for non-Hispanic whites.
* Half of Americans aged 65 and older have prediabetes, and nearly
27 percent have diabetes.
The fact sheet estimates are drawn from a variety of sources, including
CDC surveys, the Indian Health Service National Patient Information
Reporting System, the U.S. Renal Data System of the National Institutes
of Health, the U.S. Census Bureau, and published studies. The fact
sheet was prepared in collaboration with a number of agencies within the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, other federal agencies,
and the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the American
Diabetes Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
International.
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
People with diabetes are more likely to suffer from complications such
as heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, kidney failure,
blindness and amputations of feet and legs. Diabetes costs $174 billion
annually, including $116 billion in direct medical expenses.
The fact sheet is available at www.cdc.gov/diabetes. Information on
diabetes prevention and control from the National Diabetes Education
Program – a joint effort of CDC and NIH – is available at
www.yourdiabetesinfo.org.