FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Lamont Pack, (334) 206-2062
Diabetes is a serious disease that strikes nearly 29 million children and adults in the United States, and more than a quarter of them, 7 million, do not even know they have it. An additional 86 million, or one in three American adults, have prediabetes which puts them at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
Unfortunately, diagnosis often comes 7 to 10 years after the onset of the disease, after disabling and even deadly complications have had time to develop. Therefore, early diagnosis is critical to successful treatment and delaying or preventing some of its complications such as heart
disease, blindness, kidney disease, stroke, amputation and death.
Everyone should be aware of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes, but those at greatest risk for diabetes are:
- Overweight
- Underactive and live a sedentary lifestyle
- Over age 45
- African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander
- People with a family history of diabetes
In Alabama, 510,000 people have diabetes and another 254,000 have prediabetes. Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be called diabetes. Prediabetes may develop into type 2 diabetes and cause many of the complications of diabetes.
American Diabetes Association Alert Day® is the fourth Tuesday in March. This is a one-day “wake-up call” asking the American public to take the risk tests as follows:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “CDC Prediabetes Screening Test” and “Take the Family Health History Quiz”
- The American Diabetes Association’s test “Are You at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes?” Visit http://stopdiabetes.com or call 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383)
- The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) created a prediabetes risk test to determine if a person is at risk. Visit NDEP online at http://ndep.nih.gov/am-i-at-risk/family-history/quiz.aspx, call 1-888-693-NDEP (6337), or go online to http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention then click “Could You Have Prediabetes? Take the Quiz”.
“The power to prevent prediabetes and type 2 diabetes is in your hands,” Lamont Pack of the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, Alabama Department of Public Heath, said. “Studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can often be prevented or delayed by losing just 7 percent of body weight through regular physical activity and healthy eating.”
If after taking the risk tests you are found to be at risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, act by following up with your health care provider. Patients with prediabetes can be linked to an evidence-based diabetes prevention program.
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3/17/15