Diabetes On The Rise In The United States
The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) announced yesterday that the number of Americans with diabetes rose by more than 1 million last year. As a result, the total number of Americans suffering from this disease is now 30.3 million.
Moreover, these statistics will get worse as another 84 million Americans have prediabetes. This condition displays blood sugar levels higher than normal but not high enough to meet the definition of this disease. Finally, estimates indicate there are an additional 7.2 million people who may have the disease and not know it.
Diabetes Symptoms
The main symptoms of this disease are:
- fatigue, weight loss, labored breathing
- pain, blurred vision, urinary problems
- hyper/hypoglycemia
- stress, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain
- depression, fear, anger, frustration.
Diabetes Risk Factors
Disease sufferers are at significant risk for these illnesses as kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, blindness and lower-limb amputations are prevalent. Healthy food choices, weight loss, exercise, and medication will reduce the risk and delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes Disease Demographics
The CDC reports that the highest rates are among American Indian/Alaska natives (+/-15 percent), Black (12-13 percent), Hispanic (11.7-12.6 percent) and Asian races (7.3-9 percent). White women had the lowest rates at 6.8 percent.
Regionally, the highest disease prevalence is in the Deep South and Central regions of the country, whereas the lowest rates are in the West and upper Northeast.
Outlook
Currently, says the CDC, 25.2 percent of people age 65 and older have diabetes and almost half of seniors have prediabetes. Consequently, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities will therefore experience a significant impact on their senior resident care responsibilities.