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Do You Have Diabetes and Do Not Know It?

In the United States, nearly 13 percent of adults age 20 and older have diabetes, but 40 percent of them have not been diagnosed, according to epidemiologists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose study includes newly available data from an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT).

An additional 30 percent of adults have pre-diabetes, a condition marked by elevated blood sugar that is not yet in the diabetic range. Researchers report these findings in the February 2009 issue of Diabetes Care.

The study compared the results of two national surveys that included a fasting blood glucose (FBG) test and 2-hour glucose reading from an OGTT. The OGTT gives more information about blood glucose abnormalities than the FBG test, which measures blood glucose after an overnight fast. The FBG test is easier and less costly than the OGTT, but the 2-hour test is more sensitive in identifying diabetes and pre-diabetes, especially in older people. Two-hour glucose readings that are high but not yet diabetic indicate a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and of developing diabetes than a high, but not yet diabetic, fasting glucose level.

“We’re facing a diabetes epidemic that shows no signs of abating, judging from the number of individuals with pre-diabetes,” said lead author Catherine Cowie, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a part of the NIH. “For years, diabetes prevalence estimates have been based mainly on data that included a fasting glucose test but not an OGTT.

Diabetes is rising as a serious health problem in United States and much of the developed world. Obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are all interrelated. In its final stages diabetes can cause a person to become blind and loose leg(s).

Diabetes can be prevented by exercising, watching what you eat, and eating less (portion control). Fatty, sugary foods should be avoided or at least eaten less. Today even children are developing this disease. Unfortunately, obese children are seen more and more. And with the popularity of fast food and video games, they have the perfect opportunity to increase their girth and not get the exercise that the children before them did.


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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under diabetes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Do You Have Diabetes and Do Not Know It?”

  1. Hello. Great job.

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