Nation's Health Report Shows Widespread Increase in Diabetes: National Diabetes Education Program Responds
January 25, 2000
Washington, DC--Healthy People 2010, the nation's health report, released today, shows that deaths from heart disease, stroke, and cancer are down, but deaths from diabetes are up. "Diabetes is the epidemic of our times, and continues to increase in prevalence, incidence, and deaths," said Rodney Lorenz, M.D., co-chair of the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). The NDEP is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Healthy People 2010 reports that in addition to deaths, severe complications of diabetes, and incidence and prevalence of the disease all increased. The only improvements for people with diabetes were in the number of people who got an annual dilated eye exam and who received some formal diabetes education.
"We have not paid enough attention to diabetes," said Lorenz. "It's a very serious disease, but one that can be controlled. It's time to move diabetes up on the national health agenda. That's why the National Diabetes Education Program is mobilizing hundreds of local and state groups, corporations, and health care providers to combat this disease."
Scientific evidence shows that aggressive management of diabetes can significantly prevent or delay the serious complications of the disease--kidney failure, blindness, and toe, foot or leg amputations. Controlling blood sugar levels also reduces risks for heart disease and stroke, the major killers of people with diabetes.
"With more aggressive treatment and earlier detection of diabetes-related complications, we hope to attain the same kinds of reductions in deaths and disabilities due to diabetes as we have with the other chronic diseases--cancer, stroke and heart disease," said Lorenz.
Managing diabetes requires ongoing, daily self-management--good nutrition, regular physical activity, monitoring of blood sugar levels, and taking prescribed medications.
The Healthy People reports are compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services every ten years to assess the state of our nation's health (www.healthypeople.gov ). For more information and free materials to help people with diabetes control their disease, call the National Diabetes Education Program at 1-800-438-5383 or visit the program's web sites at http://ndep.nih.gov or www.cdc.gov/diabetes.
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TaWanna Berry
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Page last updated: April 17, 2008
