The number of U.S. adults with diabetes will escalate from the current rate of one in 10 to as many as one in three adults by 2050, a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in the journal Population Health Metrics predicts. According to the study authors, a largely aging population, an increase in high-risk minorities, and people with diabetes living longer are all causes that will contribute to the projected increase.
ACSH staffers were surprised that obesity was omitted from this list of contributing factors. “It’s strange that the article fails to mention the most obvious cause of increasing diabetes,” says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross.
“It’s almost as if they left it out on purpose, even though obesity is one of the most important causes of type 2 diabetes,” adds ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “It’s like an incomplete report.”
Diabetes can be prevented, controlled or even reversed through lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise, and it currently remains the leading cause of kidney failure, non-injury leg and foot amputations among adults, and blindness for people under age 75.
“In addition, it is a strong risk factor for heart disease and vascular diseases of all types, making it a huge health and economic burden,” says Dr. Ross.
