8% Rise in Diabetes says CDC

We've been talking a bit around the office about a recent article by the CDC covered at your favorite diabetic site in our newly added diabetes news.

The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. They also estimate another 57 Million people have blood sugar abnormalities called pre-diabetes, putting them at an increased risk of it developing into diabetes.

Diabetes now affects nearly 24 million people in the United States, an increase of more than 3 million in approximately two years, according to new 2007 prevalence data estimates released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This means that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes.

In addition to the 24 million with diabetes, another 57 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition that puts people at increased risk for diabetes. Among people with diabetes, those who do not know they have the disease decreased from 30 percent to 25 percent over a two-year period.

I'm not sure about you but that makes me feel a bit sad and hopeless. How can our preventative efforts be that bad?

Time's Summary of Press Release | Digg comments and story