1 in 4 with Diabetes Unaware of Condition

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nearly 10% of the U.S. population suffers from diabetes, 86 million adults have prediabetes, and 1 in 4 cases of diabetes are currently undiagnosed. The data was published in the 2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report.

Key findings from the report include:

29 million people in the United States (9.3% of the population) have diabetes.
1.7 million people aged ≥20 years were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2012.
8.1 million people with diabetes are undiagnosed.
Non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native adults are about twice as likely to have diagnosed diabetes as non-Hispanic white adults.
208,000 people <20 years have been diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 or type 2).
86 million adults aged ≥20 years have prediabetes. Without weight loss and moderate physical activity, 15–30% of these individuals will develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years.
The percentage of U.S. adults with prediabetes is similar for non-Hispanic whites (35%), non-Hispanic blacks (39%), and Hispanics (38%).
Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2010 but may be underreported.

In the treatment of diabetes, 2.9 million adults currently use insulin-only therapy (14%) vs. 3.1 million who use both insulin and oral medication (14.7%). The majority of adults with diabetes use oral medication only (11.9 million, 56.9%) and 3 million (14.4%) take no medication for diabetes whatsoever.

Based on these statistics, the CDC is urging swift action to treat and prevent prediabetes and diabetes in all populations.

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