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This podcast is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC – safer, healthier people.

Welcome to this podcast series on diabetes, brought to you by the National Diabetes Education Program or NDEP. NDEP is a joint initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

Diabetes is serious, common, and costly, yet controllable. * Over 4100 people are diagnosed with diabetes in the United States every day. * Fifty-five go blind. * One hundred and twenty have kidney failure. * Two hundred and thirty get a limb amputated. * That’s every single day.

What is diabetes? * Diabetes is a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. * Diabetes can lead to serious complications and premature death, but people with diabetes can take steps to control the disease and lower the risk of complications.

Diabetes is serious. * Diabetes is the number one cause of acquired blindness, kidney failure, non-traumatic amputation and a contributor to the number one cause of death in the United States: heart attack and stroke. * Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in America

Diabetes is common. * Almost 21 Americans have diabetes — 7 percent of the U.S. population. Of these, about one third don’t know they have the disease. * Each year, about 1.5 million people are diagnosed with diabetes. * One in five Americans ages 60 or older have diabetes. * The number of people diagnosed with diabetes has increased almost 1000% from 1.5 million in 1958 to 14.6 million in 2005, an increase of epidemic proportions.

Diabetes is costly. * Diabetes costs the nation about $132 billion annually in direct medical costs such as hospitalization and treatment and indirect costs such as disability payments, time lost from work, and premature death.

Diabetes is controllable. * Studies have found that controlling blood glucose (or blood sugar) reduces the risk of eye, kidney, and nerve diseases by 40%. * Blood pressure control reduces the risk of heart disease or stroke among persons with diabetes by one third to one half. * Improved control of cholesterol can reduce heart disease or stroke among people with diabetes by 20% to 50%.

To learn more about diabetes and to order free educational materials, please visit www.ndep.nih.gov or call the National Diabetes Education Program at 1-800-438-5383.

To access the most accurate and relevant health information that affects you, your family and your community, please visit www.cdc.gov.