As the number of overweight and obese people is on the rise
in the U.S., it is no surprise that there are nearly 24 million people having
diabetes, an increase of more than 3 million in two years, the latest
statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on
data from 2007, show. A quarter of people ages 60 and older had diabetes in
2007, the CDC found.
There are also almost 6 million who are unaware they are
diabetic. The good news is that the percentage of people in this situation fell
from 30 percent to 25 percent, according to the report.
And there are at least 57 million people having prediabetes,
a condition that puts people at greater risk of the disease.
These figures mean that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population
has diabetes, mostly the type-2 diabetes.
The report showed that the rate of diagnosed diabetes was
highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives (16.5 percent). They were
followed by blacks (11.8 percent) and Hispanics (10.4 percent), including
Puerto Ricans (12.6 percent), Mexican Americans (11.9 percent) and Cubans (8.2
percent).
On the other hand, the rate for Asian Americans was a little
lower at 7.5 percent and at 6.6 percent for whites.
Dr. Ann Albright, director of the CDC’s Division of Diabetes
Translation said “these data are a reminder of the importance of increasing
awareness of this condition, especially among people who are at high risk,” she
was quoted as saying by the Associate Press.
On the other hand, she said it is good to see that more
people become aware they have diabetes. “That is an indication that our efforts
to increase awareness are working, and more importantly, that more people are
better prepared to manage this disease and its complications.”
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or
properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to change sugar, starches and
other food into the energy needed for daily life.
Diabetes risk factors include being overweight, sedentary,
persons with a family history of diabetes and women who have babies with a
birth weight of greater than nine pounds.
Type 2 diabetes can further lead to serious complications such as
heart attack, kidney failure, blindness, or nerve damage that can lead to
amputations. The disease is the fifth leading cause of death in the US.
People can live with diabetes for years before they know they
have it as the disease doesn’t have visible symptoms from the beginning. That’s
the reason why, people see a physician only when significant damage is done to
their eyesight, heart or kidneys.
Visible symptoms are frequent urination, blurred vision and
excessive thirst, but people with type 2 diabetes do not show these clear
warning signs at the time they develop the disease. That’s why some people are
not diagnosed with the disease until 7 to 10 years after onset, the American
Diabetes Association warns.
The ADA
estimates there will be nearly 50.2 million people with diabetes by 2025,
especially that obesity epidemic continues to spread. Worldwide, the number of
people with diabetes will double to 366 million by 2030, according to estimates
of the World Health Organization, which calls the disease an epidemic.
Discovering diabetes in its early stages means better treatments,
better chances of living longer with it and of course better rates of survival.