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 Researchers found little change in the prevalence and incidence of
diabetes between 2008 and 2012, following drastic increases in both
numbers between 1990 and 2008.
“We are now for the first time showing that (those rates are)
slowing down,” Ann Albright told Reuters Health. “We’re encouraged
by that but it also means that we need to continue to watch this and
make sure it’s not just a blip, to make sure we can sustain this and
ultimately reverse this trend.”
Albright, who directs the Division of Diabetes Translation at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, is a
co-author of the new report in JAMA, the Journal of the American
Medical Association.
She added that more work is needed to make sure all groups benefit
from the leveling off of diabetes rates. The number of new cases
continued to increase among Hispanics and blacks, and the overall
number of diabetes cases increased among those with less than a high
school education, according to the new report.
“The interventions that are effective in treating obesity and
preventing type 2 diabetes, we know what those are,” Albright said.
“We need to be implementing them on a wider scale if we’re going to
turn this tide.”
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. but is
often underreported on death certificates, according to the CDC. The
condition also costs the country about $245 billion each year.
Approximately 29 million Americans - about 9 percent of the U.S.
population - have diabetes, according to the CDC. About 30 percent
of those people are undiagnosed.
Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes and is often linked to
obesity. In type 2 diabetes, the body's cells are resistant to the
hormone insulin, or the body doesn't make enough of it. Insulin
gives blood sugar access to the body's cells to be used as fuel.
Type 1 diabetes typically appears in childhood or adolescence and
results from a failure to make insulin in the pancreas.
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The new study found that in 1990, 3.5 of every 100 people had either
type of diabetes, and by 2008, that number had climbed to 7.9 per
100. But as of 2012, it had risen only slightly, to 8.3 per 100.
As for the number of new cases each year, the researchers found it
went from 3.2 per 1,000 people in 1990 to 8.8 per 1,000 people in
2008. It then fell to 7.1 per 1,000 people in 2012.
The researchers cannot say whether the leveling off of diabetes
rates is due to changes in type 1, type 2, or both. Also, they can’t
say why trends appear to be changing, but it may be related to
stabilizing rates of obesity.
The CDC reported in February that the overall obesity rates appear
to be stable at about a third of all adults since 2003 – with a drop
reported among preschool-aged children (see Reuters Health story of
February 26, 2014 here: http://reut.rs/1uW2v6b).
“The improvement that we make in obesity and the diabetes prevention
work that we do, these are all going to be contributing to slowing
the rate,” Albright said. “Ultimately we want to reverse these
(rates).”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZccOYj JAMA,
online September 23, 2014.
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