Washington, D.C. (AHN) – A new study finds that one third of American adults have diabetes; many of whom don’t even know it.
According to Catherine Cowie, director of the diabetes epidemiology program at the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 19 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, while 26 percent have a precursor to diabetes called, "impaired fasting glucose."
Cowie says, "So, if you add that together with the 9.3 percent of people with diabetes, that means that fully one-third of the adult population – 73 million Americans – have diabetes or they may be on their way to getting it."
"In addition, we found that about one-third of the 9.3 percent don’t know they have it."
Cowie’s report will appear in the June issue of Diabetes Care.
