2 in 3 people with diabetes die of heart disease or stroke
Diabetes is the #1 cause of adult blindness
Diabetes is the #1 cause of kidney failure
Diabetes causes more than 60% of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations each year
Note:
About 2 in 3 people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke. The risk for heart disease and stroke is 2 to 4 times higher in people with diabetes.
Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20 to 74 years.
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for 44 percent of new cases in 2002. In 2002, close to 154,000 people with end-stage kidney disease due to diabetes were living on chronic dialysis or with a kidney transplant in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Diabetes causes more than 60 percent of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations each year. In 2002, about 82,000 nontraumatic lower-limb amputations were performed in people with diabetes.
Reference
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. National Diabetes Statistics fact sheet: general information and national estimates on diabetes in the United States, 2005. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, 2005.