GENERAL FACTS ABOUT DIABETES
- More than 37 million people in the United States have diabetes
- 1 in 5 people are not aware they have diabetes
- Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States
- In the last 20 years the number of adults with diabetes has more than doubled
- There are 3 types of diabetes (type 1, type 2, and gestational)
- Most people have type 2 diabetes
- Diabetes is a main cause of blindness, amputation, kidney failure, and other conditions
- Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Asian Americans, or Pacific Islanders
- Between 1990 and 2010 the number of people living with diabetes has tripled
- Men are at a slightly higher risk of developing diabetes than women
- Prediabetes is when blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to qualify as outright diabetes
- The total estimated cost of diabetes is $327 billion annually
Photo by Cara Roper
TYPE 1 DIABETES
Occurs when a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin
- 1.6 million Americans are living with type 1 (200,000 youth and 1.4 million adults)
- 64,000 people are diagnosed each year in the U.S.
- Between 2001 and 2009 there was a 21% increase in the prevalence of T1D
- 5% of all people with diabetes have type 1
- Symptoms:may include being very thirsty, frequent urination, feeling hungry or tired, losing weight without trying, sores that heal slowly, dry and itchy skin, losing feeling or having tingling in your feet, blurry eyesight
- 49 children a day receive a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes
Photo by Cara Roper
TYPE 2 DIABETES
the pancreas makes less insulin than the body needs, and the body stops responding to the insulin
- Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes
- Occurs often in middle-aged and older people, have a family history of diabetes, or if you are overweight or obese
- Type 2 diabetes is increasingly occurring in children
- Signs and symptoms can be: increased thirst, urinating often, increased hunger, unintended weight loss, tiredness, blurred vision, slow-healing sores, frequent infections, numbness or tingling in hands or feet, areas of darkened skin
- You can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by drinking more water and fewer sugary drinks, eating more fruits and vegetables, making favorite foods healthier, doing physical activity
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GESTATIONAL DIABETES
Occurs when your body can’t make enough insulin during pregnancy.
- Doesn’t normally have symptoms
- When you have gestational diabetes, your baby is at a higher risk of being very large, being born early, having low blood sugar, developing type 2 diabetes later in life
- There is not a known cause for gestational diabetes
- For most women, once they have their baby, diabetes goes away soon after. If not, the diabetes is called type 2 diabetes. Even if it does go away, half of all women who had gestational diabetes develop type 2 diabetes later
- Gestational diabetes increases the chance of needing a C-section
Photo by Cara Roper
CITATIONS
Websites where we found these facts
- https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/quick-facts.html
- https://www.communityaccessnetwork.org/10-facts-about-diabetes/
- https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes/type-2-diabetes
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322022
- https://www.jdrf.org/t1d-resources/about/facts/
- https://www.choc.org/health-topics/facts-type-1-diabetes/
- https://medlineplus.gov/diabetestype1.ht
- https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20351193
Photo by Cara Roper