Diabetes Dateline
Fall 2008

Number of Americans with Diabetes Hits 24 Million in 2007

The number of Americans with diabetes increased by more than 3 million people in 2 years, reaching nearly 24 million in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The increase raised the total U.S. population with diabetes to almost 8 percent. The CDC also reported that an additional 57 million Americans had pre-diabetes, a condition in which individuals’ levels of blood glucose, also called blood sugar, are higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.

Among adults, diabetes increased in both men and women and in all age groups. However, the disease continues to disproportionately affect older adults: almost 25 percent of Americans ages 60 or older had diabetes in 2007.

Health Disparities Continue

Similar to previous years, disparities still exist among ethnic groups and minority populations including American Indians, African Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos. After adjusting for population age differences among the groups, the rate of diagnosed diabetes was highest—at 16.5 percent—among American Indians and Alaska Natives. African Americans were next with a rate of 11.8 percent, followed by Hispanics/Latinos at 10.4 percent, which includes rates for Puerto Ricans at 12.6 percent, Mexican Americans at 11.9 percent, and Cubans at 8.2 percent. The diabetes rate for Asian Americans was 7.5 percent, followed by Caucasians at 6.6 percent.

The updated diabetes statistics and other information about diabetes are included in National Diabetes Statistics, 2007, which is available on the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) website at www.diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics. The fact sheet includes prevalence rates for pre-diabetes by race and an updated section about treating diabetes for health care professionals and diabetes educators.

Together with the CDC, the NIDDK’s National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) provides diabetes education information to improve treatment and outcomes for people with diabetes, promote early diagnosis, and prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. NDEP resources are available at www.ndep.nih.gov.

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NIH Publication No. 09–4562
December 2009