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Diabetes Facts
What Is Diabetes?
- Diabetes is a chronic, genetically determined, debilitating disease affecting every
organ system. Insulin is not a cure, but merely life support. There are two major types of
diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 (juvenile) is caused by the autoimmune destruction of
the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas and is usually, though not always, diagnosed
in childhood. People with Type 1 must take insulin to live. People with Type 2 produce
insulin, but their bodies do not use it effectively. Type 2 is usually diagnosed in
adulthood.
Affects Millions
- Diabetes kills one American every three minutes.
- Sixteen million Americans have the disease; of these, 5.4 million are undiagnosed.
- Diabetes afflicts 120 million people worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO)
estimates this number will skyrocket to 300 million by the year 2025.
- A new case of diabetes is diagnosed every 40 seconds.
- Taking insulin does not cure the disease nor prevent the development of complications.
Leading Cause of Death
- Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, and
nontraumatic amputations.
- People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.
- Life expectancy of people with diabetes averages 15 years less than that of people
without diabetes.
- Diabetes is a leading cause of nerve damage.
- Death rate among infants born to mothers with diabetes is two to three times as high as
for women without diabetes.
Single Most Costly Chronic Disease
- Diabetes accounts for $98 billion in annual U.S. health-care costs.
- One of every five Medicare dollars goes to pay for the health care of people with the
disease.
- Average lifetime cost of diabetes care for a person diagnosed at age three is calculated
at $600,000 in today’s dollars.
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