REVISED DEFINITION MEANS
MILLIONS MORE HAVE PRE-DIABETES
"Pre-diabetes" - a condition that
raises a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
- is far more common in America
than previously believed, according to a new HHS estimate released in 2004.
About 40 percent of U.S.
adults ages 40 to 74, or 41 million people, currently have the condition, which
is marked by blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet
diabetic. Many people with pre-diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes within
10 years.
The new estimate is based on a revised, more
accurate definition of pre-diabetes made by an international expert committee
of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and published in Diabetes Care in
November 2003. Under previous criteria, it had been estimated that some 20.1
million in this age group had pre-diabetes. "Every 25 seconds, someone in America is
diagnosed with diabetes," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said.
"These latest numbers show how urgent the problem really is. We need to
help Americans take steps to prevent diabetes, or we will risk being
overwhelmed by the health and economic consequences of an ever-growing diabetes
epidemic." The new definition of pre-diabetes identifies more people who
are likely to develop type 2 diabetes, highlighting
the importance of preventing this disease. "By identifying people with
pre-diabetes, we can encourage them to take preventive measures such as losing
weight, becoming physically active and eating a healthy diet, to help keep
diabetes and other serious health problems at bay," Secretary Thompson
said.
Secretary Thompson announced the new estimate
at HHS' 2nd annual Steps to a Healthier US Summit in Baltimore, where he advocated his program of
small, achievable lifestyle steps to achieve better health and avoid chronic
disease. Type 2 diabetes is strongly associated with overweight and obesity.
"Research has clearly shown that losing 5 to 7 percent of body weight
through diet and increased physical activity can prevent or delay pre-diabetes
from progressing to type 2 diabetes," said Dr.
Allen Spiegel, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and
Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health within HHS.
HHS' National Diabetes Education Program
(NDEP) is launching the first national multicultural diabetes prevention
campaign called “Small Steps - Big Rewards”. The campaign includes motivational
tip sheets for consumers, as well as print and radio public service ads, tailored
for specific high risk groups such as: African Americans; Hispanic and Latino
Americans; American Indians and Alaska Natives; Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders; and adults aged 60 and older.
"Without intervention, one in three
children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime,"
said Dr. Frank Vinicor, Director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's diabetes division. "For some of us, the
risk is even higher. If that child is Hispanic and female, she has a one in two
chance of developing diabetes in her lifetime. We need to get the word out that
type 2 diabetes can be prevented."
Pre-diabetes may be called impaired fasting
glucose (IFG) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), depending on the test used
to diagnose it. Some people have both IFG and IGT. 0 IFG is a condition in
which the blood sugar level is high (100 to 125 milligrams per deciliter or mg/dL) after an overnight fast but not high enough to be
classified as diabetes. (The former definition of IFG was 110 mg/dl to 125
mg/dl.) 0 IGT is a condition in which the blood sugar level is high (140 to 199
mg/dL) after a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test,
but is not high enough to be classified as diabetes. (The ADA expert committee did not change the
definition of IGT.)
The new estimate of people with pre-diabetes
is detailed in the latest National Diabetes Fact Sheet, released by HHS' CDC
and NIDDK. The estimates were calculated using data from the 1988-1994 National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and projected to the 2000 U.S.
population. The National Diabetes Fact Sheet provides up-to-date information
about diabetes, its prevalence, incidence, complications and costs to the
nation. Overall, about 18.2 million Americans currently have diabetes, with
about 1.3 million new cases being diagnosed each year. Most of these
individuals - 90 percent to 95 percent - have type 2
diabetes, which is associated with older age, obesity, physical
inactivity and ethnicity. The fact sheet is available by clicking on the link
below or by calling 1-877 -CDC-DIAB (232-3422).