Diabetes a Sient Killer

 

Diabetes – a Silent Killer

According to the 2014 release of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), as of 2012, 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3% of the total US population, had diabetes.¹² Type 1 diabetes is prevalent among approximately 1.25 million American children and adults. A large percentage of Americans (about 28%) were undiagnosed diabetes cases from among the 29.1 million cases (21.0 million diagnosed and 8.1 million undiagnosed). The Americans aged 65 and older (senior citizens) are at a much higher risk (25.9% or 11.8 million, diagnosed and undiagnosed combined). Even though the incidence of new diabetes cases is astounding, the trajectory appeared to have slowed momentarily, with 1.7 million new diagnoses per year as reported in 2012 as compared to 1.9 million in 2010, reflecting fewer cases diagnosed in 2012 than in 2010. This raises the question – is this really a downward trend or have many diabetes cases gone unreported and undiagnosed due to various confounding factors? The prediabetes cases have been on an upward swing with 86 million Americans, aged 20 years or older, having been reported as being prone to diabetes (pre-diabetes) as of 2012, which is higher than the 2010 estimates (79 million). Based on race and ethnicity, diabetes affects 7.6% of non-Hispanic whites, 9.0% of Asian Americans, 12.8% of Hispanics, 13.2% of non-Hispanic blacks, and 15.9% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives, among the US population. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US. According to the ADA, 69,071 death certificates listed diabetes as the underlying cause of death in 2010. A total of 234,051 death certificates listed diabetes as an underlying or contributing cause of death. According to the latest statistics available, the total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the US as of 2012 was $245 billion, of which, $176 billion was spent toward direct medical costs and $69 billion costs were associated with reduced productivity. So, it is easy to see how detrimental diabetes is to the overall health of the population and the economy of the United States.

Ref

Biomark Insights. 2016 Jul 3;11:95–104. doi: 10.4137/BMI.S38440

Significance of HbA1c Test in Diagnosis and Prognosis of Diabetic Patients

Shariq I Sherwani 1, Haseeb A Khan 2,✉, Aishah Ekhzaimy 3, Afshan Masood 4, Meena K Sakharkar 5