Posted by Professional Networkers on June 16, 2003 at 18:35:59:
Researchers: Diabetes Rates Alarming
NEW ORLEANS — If diabetes keeps growing at current rates, one of every three babies born in the United States in 2000 will develop the disease as they get older, U.S. government researchers said.
For Hispanics, the predicted rate is even higher — one out of every two.
An official of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presented these projections during the annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.
But a colleague from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said this huge increase does not need to occur if people will control their weight, exercise regularly and eat healthy foods.
An estimated 17 million Americans have diabetes. And the numbers are growing rapidly as Americans also grow heavier. More than 90 percent of people with diabetes have type 2, which usually develops in adulthood and is closely related to obesity.
Researchers developed these predictions by examining 17 years of data, 1984 through 2000, from the U.S. government's National Health Interview Survey, said K.M. Venkat Narayan, M.D. Dr. Narayan is the CDC's chief of diabetes epidemiology.
The study attempted to show what could happen if current trends of diabetes growth continue, Dr. Narayan said. Researchers also allowed for trends in ethnic makeup, since Hispanics and some other groups have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, he said.
Females have a slightly higher risk than males of developing diabetes, in part because they tend to live longer, Dr. Narayan said. The projected rates were 33 percent for males and 39 percent for females. For Hispanics, the rates were 45 percent for males and 53 percent for females.
"The good thing," he said, "is that there's a lot that can be done."
Modest weight loss — about 5 percent to 7 percent of body weight — and 30 minutes of exercise five days a week can cut the risk of diabetes in half, even among people who already have "pre-diabetes," said Judith E. Fradkin, M.D., director of the NIH's Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases.
The Diabetes Prevention Program, a major, NIH-funded study completed in 2001, found that people who made such intensive lifestyle changes cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. Study participants had impaired glucose tolerance, sometimes called "pre-diabetes."
People with pre-diabetes have higher blood sugar than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. The condition often leads to diabetes, however, and, like diabetes, it is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
About 16 million adults ages 40 to 74 have pre-diabetes, Dr. Fradkin said. All of the major factors related to the risk of type 2 diabetes have increased in recent years, Dr. Fradkin said. Americans are getting older, heavier and less active. In addition, there are more Americans in the ethnic groups with highest risk.
But two of the most important factors, weight and inactivity, can change. And the lifestyle changes needed are not drastic, Dr. Fradkin said.
People in the Diabetes Prevention Program started at an average weight of 200 and lost an average of 15 pounds, she said. "You don't have to get to your ideal weight" to help prevent diabetes.
The National Diabetes Education Program, funded by the NIH and CDC, has been spreading that message through its "Small Steps, Big Rewards" campaign.
Now the campaign has added a "tool kit" to help doctors and patients put these lifestyle changes into practice, Dr. Fradkin said.
For doctors, the kit includes a guide to using the kit and motivating patients. For patients, it includes educational materials, such as a calorie and fat counter and a food and activity tracker.
More information is available at www.ndep.nih.gov.
Researchers have proven that lifestyle changes can prevent diabetes, Dr. Fradkin said. Now, she said, she hopes that health insurers and employers will take additional steps to encourage and reward people for losing weight and exercising.
June 16, 2003
By Lisa Ellis
InteliHealth Staff Writer