Study: Half Of American Adults Have Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes

A research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that half of adult Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes.

LiveScience reports that in years 2011 to 2012, more than 12 percent of U.S. adults have diagnosed diabetes, and 38 had "pre-diabetes," a condition wherein blood sugar levels are usually higher than the normal levels.

The study also found that more than one third of U.S. adults or 36.4 percent didn't know they had diabetes, or are undiagnosed. According to the study, the number of adults who were unaware they had the condition are higher for Asian Americans at about 50 percent.

In a press release, the researchers also noted that the overall prevalence for diabetes among U.S. adults had gone up, from nearly 10 percent to over 12 percent between 1988 and 2012.

Regardless of age, sex, level of education, income status and racial or ethnic group, the prevalence went up. On the bright side, the number of undiagnosed cases between 1988-1994 and 2011 and 2012 decreased to 23 percent. 

The researchers used data from the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They were able to quantify diabetes prevalence among Asian Americans for the first time, and discovered that undiagnosed diabetes among Asian Americans group was high at 51 percent, the highest among all racial/ethnic subgroups. The researchers also found that Hispanic Americans had the highest diabetes prevalence at 23 percent, with 49 percent undiagnosed.

"Prediabetes puts people at risk of diabetes in the future," said lead researcher Catherine Cowie, as per HealthDay. She is the program director of the US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases' division of diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic diseases.

The study also found that one key difference between Asian Americans and other ethnic subgroups in the study was that Asian Americans often develop type 2 diabetes at a lower body mass index (BMI). The average BMI for all Asian Americans in the study was under 25, compared to the overall US population of just a little lower than 29. A BMI of 25 to under 30 is considered overweight, and 30 or higher as obese.

"The large proportion of people with undiagnosed diabetes points to both a greater need to test for type 2 diabetes and a need for more education on when to test for type 2 diabetes, especially since populations such as Asian Americans may develop type 2 at a lower body mass than other groups," said Cowie.

"Diabetes can be treated, but only if it is diagnosed," she explained. "The medical community needs to be aware that there is a high rate of undiagnosed diabetes in the population."