DIABETES: STATS & FACTS

 Who?

• 25.8 million Americans aged 20 and older have diabetes, or 8.3 percent of the U.S. population.Of these, 7 million remain undiagnosed.
• In Massachusetts, more than 7 percent of residents had diabetes in 2009, a 4.1 percent increase over 2000.
• In 2009, 7 percent of Massachusetts adults were diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
• Diabetes is more prevalent among Massachusetts African-Americans (12.8 percent), Asians (16 percent), and Hispanics (14.2 percent) than Whites (6.5 percent).
• If present trends continue, one in three Americans, and one in two minorities, born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.

 

The Impact

• According to a New England Healthcare Institute study, three out of five people with diabetes have at least one complication; one out of three has two complications, and one in 13 has five complications.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States.
• Medical expenses for people with diabetes are more than twice as high than for those without diabetes.
• Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
• From 2002 – 2007, 1,300 Massachusetts residents died each year from diabetes. This means that nearly four residents died from diabetes each day.
• Diabetes is thought to be under-reported as a cause of death because many times deaths are attributed to complications (heart disease, stroke, kidney disease) rather than the disease itself.
• Diabetes costs the United States at least $174 billion a year, one of every 10 healthcare dollars.

 

Above content provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. For advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.

 

Posted November 2012

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