Stunning Jump Seen in Diabetes Rates in 1999
Stunning Jump Seen in Diabetes Rates in 1999
Jan. 26, 2001 -- Don't get off the treadmill just yet, America. The bad news about rising rates of diabetes, linked to increasing rates of obesity, is only getting worse, experts say.
Rates of type 2 diabetes, the type usually diagnosed later in life, rose another 6% among adults in 1999, according to researchers at the CDC in Atlanta. The report follows on the heels of a September CDC study showing that from 1990 to 1998, diabetes rose 33% among U.S. adults.
That study linked the increase in diabetes with the rising rates of obesity, a major risk factor for the disease. The new report for 1999 agrees: The prevalence of obesity increased from 18% in 1998 to 19% in 1999, according to Ali H. Mokdad, PhD, senior epidemiologist at the CDC, who authored a letter in the February issue of Diabetes Care reporting the new statistics.
"When we look at obesity and diabetes, the association is as strong as that between smoking and lung cancer," Mokdad tells WebMD. "The driving force in the increase in diabetes is obesity."
Is it possible that such a dramatic increase could be due to better detection and reporting of the disease?
"This is a real increase," Mokdad asserts. "I am 100% sure this is not an artifact of reporting. While greater awareness of the disease is a factor that can't be ruled out, increased identification would not be driving diabetes to increase by 40% during the period of the 1990s."
According to the survey, increases in diabetes were found in every category. Rates increased in both women and men and among all ethnic groups, including whites, blacks, and Hispanics, according to the CDC.
Gerald Bernstein, MD, past president of the American Diabetes Association, called the increase in diabetes "no surprise."
Bernstein says many people today are carrying the so-called "thrifty gene" -- a gene that allowed people to store food in times when food was scarce. Today, that gene is "wreaking havoc" on individuals who may or may not be eating too much, but are certainly not burning up what they do eat, Bernstein says.
Stunning Jump Seen in Diabetes Rates in 1999
Jan. 26, 2001 -- Don't get off the treadmill just yet, America. The bad news about rising rates of diabetes, linked to increasing rates of obesity, is only getting worse, experts say.
Rates of type 2 diabetes, the type usually diagnosed later in life, rose another 6% among adults in 1999, according to researchers at the CDC in Atlanta. The report follows on the heels of a September CDC study showing that from 1990 to 1998, diabetes rose 33% among U.S. adults.
That study linked the increase in diabetes with the rising rates of obesity, a major risk factor for the disease. The new report for 1999 agrees: The prevalence of obesity increased from 18% in 1998 to 19% in 1999, according to Ali H. Mokdad, PhD, senior epidemiologist at the CDC, who authored a letter in the February issue of Diabetes Care reporting the new statistics.
"When we look at obesity and diabetes, the association is as strong as that between smoking and lung cancer," Mokdad tells WebMD. "The driving force in the increase in diabetes is obesity."
Is it possible that such a dramatic increase could be due to better detection and reporting of the disease?
"This is a real increase," Mokdad asserts. "I am 100% sure this is not an artifact of reporting. While greater awareness of the disease is a factor that can't be ruled out, increased identification would not be driving diabetes to increase by 40% during the period of the 1990s."
According to the survey, increases in diabetes were found in every category. Rates increased in both women and men and among all ethnic groups, including whites, blacks, and Hispanics, according to the CDC.
Gerald Bernstein, MD, past president of the American Diabetes Association, called the increase in diabetes "no surprise."
Bernstein says many people today are carrying the so-called "thrifty gene" -- a gene that allowed people to store food in times when food was scarce. Today, that gene is "wreaking havoc" on individuals who may or may not be eating too much, but are certainly not burning up what they do eat, Bernstein says.
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