People are much more knowledgeable about blood pressure and cholesterol than blood sugar, according to a nationally representative survey of 1,000 adults conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center in April 2009. That's worrisome, because high blood sugar rivals the other two as a contributor toward heart attacks and strokes, and can lead to other serious health complications, such as kidney damage and blindness.
Overall, the survey found that people were more than twice as likely to know their blood pressure as their blood sugar level. No wonder, then, that public-health officials estimate that of the 24 million Americans with type 2 diabetes, nearly one-quarter are unaware they have the disease. (Far fewer people have type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that typically appears during childhood or early adulthood.)
Women were more likely than men to report that they talked with a doctor about vital health statistics for blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, and to know what levels of those markers are considered healthy. That's not surprising given the well-established gender gap in preventive care. While women often establish a pattern of regular care during their reproductive years, men are significantly less likely to seek out recommended care or follow preventive advice. What's worse, it has been found that a third of men don't even have a regular doctor.
But both genders revealed confusion when it came to listing risk factors, symptoms, and complications related to type 2 diabetes. When asked to name three risk factors, for example, very few people listed some of the major culprits, such as having high blood pressure or high levels of cholesterol or triglycerides. Other risk factors include being overweight, being sedentary, or being of non-Caucasian ancestry, or having a family history of diabetes or a personal history of gestational diabetes, heart disease, or polycystic ovary syndrome.
Similarly, most people missed some of the common—and even potentially deadly—complications of the disease. And when it came to symptoms, many people got them wrong entirely, or listed ones linked to the more advanced disease but overlooked critical early warning signs. Want to see how your own knowledge of type 2 diabetes measures up? Take our online quiz to find out.
Despite not knowing a lot about type 2 diabetes, many of our respondents overestimated how common it is. Perhaps they were thinking of the one-quarter of Americans with borderline high blood sugar, or prediabetes. Most people in this category are unaware of it because they typically have no symptoms. But it's important to know if your blood sugar level is even a bit high because it greatly increases the risk that you will develop the full-blown disease. What's more, people with prediabetes have a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and possibly cognitive decline and certain cancers.
The good news is that research has found that improvements in diet and exercise are more effective than medication for people in this group. Steps you take now, before your blood sugar gets into the diabetes range, can lower it into the healthy range for good.
One reason our respondents appear to be confused on some diabetes facts may be that the sheer volume of information out there is overwhelming—and sometimes contradictory. Research is still evolving, and even public-health officials don't always agree on the basics, including the ideal age for people to start testing their blood sugar. And sometimes it's simply a matter of old myths dying hard. One out of five survey respondents thought that everyone with type 2 diabetes needed insulin injections. (Most do not!) We dispel that notion and others in 10 Diabetes Myths.
