The incidence of new cases of diabetes has risen 90 percent or more among adults over the last decade, according to a newly released report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study, State-Specific Incidence of Diabetes Among Adults, shows that over the past ten years new cases of diabetes has risen from 4.8 per 1,000 people during 1995-1997 to 9.1 per 1,000 in 2005-2008 across 33 states.
The new cases mimic an increase in obesity rates, the leading cause of blood sugar disease, said officials.
In 2006, diabetes was the nation's seventh-leading cause of death, according to the CDC. More than 23 million Americans have diabetes, and the number is rapidly growing. About 1.6 million new cases were diagnosed among adults this last year.
“The dramatic increase in diabetes cases, demonstrates the growing affliction of diabetes across the country,” says Karen Kirtland, Ph.D., a data analyst with the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.
The study confirms that we must continue promoting effective diabetes prevention for people at risk for the disease. Weight loss and healthy food choices combined with moderate exercise are important lifestyle changes people make to greatly reduce their overall risk of developing diabetes.
The report is the first to provide state-specific, age adjusted estimates of new diabetes rates for 43 states and two U.S. territories from 2005-2007.
New diabetes cases ranged from 5 per 1,000 people in Minnesota to 12.7 per 1,000 in West Virginia. The number of new cases was highest in Puerto Rico at 12.8 per 1,000.
Southern states had the highest age-adjusted cases: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
“The new report is consistent with earlier studies showing an increase in new cases,” said Kirtland. “We must push forward efforts to control and prevent diabetes, particularly in the Southern U.S. region where higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and physical inactivity are most prevalent.”
Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine’s Prevention Research Center, says the key to cutting the rate of type 2 diabetes is reversing the growing obesity epidemic.
“With the adult population of the United States projected to be obese or overweight in the next 40 years, should current trends remain unchanged, diabetes is a risk to all of us. The risk will continue to greaten until we resolve to turn back the tide of epidemic obesity,” he said.
The study is published in the October 31 issue of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. #