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Diabetes, type 2

How common is diabetes?

Diabetes is getting more common in the United States. But many people don't know that they have it.

This is what we know from the research.

More than 23 million Americans have diabetes. That's almost 8 in 100 people.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹
National estimates show that 30 percent of people with diabetes don't know they have it.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹ But a recent study found that as many as 40 percent could be undiagnosed.

Source:
Cowie CC, Rust KF, Ford ES, et al.
Full accounting of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the U.S. population in 1988–1994 and 2005–2006.
Diabetes Care. 2009; 32: 287-294.

² And these people are still at risk for extra problems that can happen with diabetes. Doctors call these complications. The longer diabetes is not diagnosed, the greater your chances of getting complications.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹
There are two Between 90 in 100 and 95 in 100 people diagnosed with diabetes have type 2.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹
Diabetes is getting more common. From 1990 to 1998, the number of people with a diabetes diagnosis increased by more than a third. In 1990, almost 5 in 100 people had this diagnosis. By 1998, more than 6 in 100 people did.

Source:
Mokdad A, Ford E, Bowman B, et al.
Diabetes trends in the US: 1990-1998.
Diabetes Care. 2001; 23: 1278-1283.

³
The increase in diabetes in the United States is linked to the increase in

obesity
If your body stores more energy than you need for daily functioning, this can make you overweight. The excess energy is stored in your fat cells. If your weight goes above a certain level, doctors call this obesity. Obesity is considered a medical condition. The excess weight can be a strain on your bones and joints. And if you are obese, you're more likely to get other diseases. Doctors have developed a scale for telling how much excess weight you have. This measure, called the body mass index (BMI), depends on your height.

obesity. Between 1991 and 2000, the number of people who were obese grew by about two-thirds (60 percent). In many states, 25 in 100 adults are obese.

Source:
Mokdad AH, Bowman BA, Ford ES, et al.
The continuing epidemics of obesity and diabetes in the United States.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2001; 286: 1195-1200.

⁴
The older you get, the more likely you are to get diabetes. More than 20 in 100 people over 65 have it.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹
Younger people are less likely to get diabetes. About 1 in 500 people under the age of 20 have it.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹
People in some ethnic groups are more likely to get diabetes than others. If you're black, Mexican, Hispanic, Native American or an Alaskan Native, you're about twice as likely to get diabetes as a white American your age. Researchers aren't sure why this is. But they think it may be due to differences in the foods people eat or their

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

genes.
Men and women are equally likely to get diabetes.
Some pregnant women get a kind of diabetes called gestational diabetes. And between 40 in 100 and 60 in 100 women who have had gestational diabetes go on to have diabetes during the next five years to 10 years.

Source:
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
National diabetes statistics, 2007.
June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

¹ For more information, see Other types of diabetes and high blood glucose.

Sources for the information on this page:

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.National diabetes statistics, 2007.June 2008. Available at http://www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics (accessed on 6 January 2009).

Cowie CC, Rust KF, Ford ES, et al. Full accounting of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the U.S. population in 1988–1994 and 2005–2006. Diabetes Care. 2009; 32: 287-294.

Mokdad A, Ford E, Bowman B, et al.Diabetes trends in the US: 1990-1998.Diabetes Care. 2001; 23: 1278-1283.

Mokdad AH, Bowman BA, Ford ES, et al.The continuing epidemics of obesity and diabetes in the United States.Journal of the American Medical Association. 2001; 286: 1195-1200.

This information was last updated on May 11, 2009

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