Diabetes: 20 million more case over next 25 years

CDC

Nov. 27--Working with a current understanding of how the diease develops and the most up-to-date-statistics on what Americans weigh and how they eat and exercise, health researchers are predicting that 44.1 million U.S. residents will have diabetes in 2034.

Currently, an estimated 23.7 million Americans suffer from diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes. Health care for people with diabetes now costs a total of $113 billion each year. Much of this money is spent through Medicare, and a significant percentage of the funds go to cover expenses related to diabetes complications such a limb amputations, heart attacks, progressive blindness, kidney failure nd strokes.

According to the data published in the December issue of the journal Diabetes Care, 25 years from today, diabetes care will cost Americans and public and private health plans more some $336 billion.

Leading risk factors for diabetes include obesity, lack of exercise and eating a diet that provides large amounts of processed sugar and low amounts of fruits and vegetables. Much of southern Virginia has high rates of both diabetes and obesity, although Virginia Beach and Chesapeake residents tend to be healthier on these measures.

The newest projections of the numbers of and costs for diabetes in the United States are the most dire yet. As lead study author Elbert Huang of the University of Chicago, said in a press release,"If we don't change our diet and exercise habits or find new, more effective and less expensive ways to prevent and treat diabetes, we will find ourselves in a lot of trouble as a population."

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