Alarming But Relevant Diabetes Statistics You Need To Know
Diabetes mellitus, or diabetes, refers to a group of diseases that are defined by incresing levels of blood sugar or glucose levels, which come as a result of problems with insuling secretion or insulation action. This disease can also be linked with a number of serious health complications, and even lead to untimely death. Here are a number of alarming but relevant statistics about diabetes today.
The Prevalence of Diabetes
In the United States, health researchers say that around 15.7 million people are afflicted with diabetes. The number of diagnosed individuals is at 10.3 million, while the undiagnosed diabetes sufferers stands at 5.4 million people. Doctors also estimate that 798,000 new diabetes cases are diagnosed each year.
Deaths Among Individuals With Diabetes
A number of recent studies have concluded that death rates from all types of diabetes are twice as high among middle-aged individuals, as compared among middle-aged people without the disease. In 1996 for example, deaths attributed to diabetes ran to around 193,140, and in 1996 alone diabetes ranked as the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. However, researchers agree that the death toll could be higher, as the disease is often underreported in some death certificates, both as a cause of death or underlying condition.
Breakking Down The Number of Victims By Sex And Age
Recent data has given new data on the the prevalence of diabetes by sex. Around 7.5 million men suffer from it, while 8.1 million women are diagnosed with diabetes. Around 6.3 million people who are aged 65 years old and above suffer from it, while 15.6 million people aged 20-below are believed to be grappling with the disease.
The Complications Of Diabetes
According to health researchers, heart disease is the leading cause of death among diabetes-related deaths. The risk of stroke is also two to four times higher in individuals with diabetes, and around 60 to 65 percent of people with diabetes have high blood pressure.
The disease is also the leading cause of blindness among adults aged 20 to 74 years old. It also is the main cause of end-stage renal disease, and a total of 27,852 people with diabetes have underwent dialysis or kidney transplants in the past year alone. Up to sixty or seventy percent of individuals who have diabetes also have mild to severe forms of damage to their nervous system.
The type of nervous system damage includes slow digestion of food in the stomach, carpal tunnel syndrome, impaired sensation in the feet, and a lot more. Amputations are also alarmingly high among diabetes patients. It is said that more than half of lowerlimb amputations in the United States were done on people who suffered from diabetes. From 1993 to 1995 alone, around 67,000 plus amputations were done each year among individuals who have diabetes.
These grim statistics are not meant to frigthen or scare the guts out of you. It only aims to inform you of the extent of the disease, and that more needs to be done to combat this growing health menace. Health experts stress that to efectively combat the disease, we need to incorporate a healthy and balanced diet, and regularly exercise, as well as live active and healthy lives.

