HHS-supported

research shows that most people with pre-diabetes will likely develop

diabetes within a decade unless they make modest changes in their diet

and level of physical activity, which can help them reduce their risks

and avoid the debilitating disease.

"The good

news is if you have pre-diabetes, you can do something about it,"

Secretary Thompson said. "We want people to know that pre-diabetes

is a serious condition that can be reversed or alleviated with modest

changes in their daily routines such as eating fewer calories and walking

regularly for exercise."

Secretary Thompson

and American Diabetes Association (ADA) President-Elect Dr. Francine Kaufman

also unveiled an expert panel's new recommendations about pre-diabetes.

The panel, convened by the ADA and HHS, calls for physicians to begin

screening overweight people age 45 and older for pre-diabetes.

In addition,

Secretary Thompson released an updated HHS estimate showing 17 million

Americans suffer from diabetes an increase of 8 percent from the most

commonly used previous estimate. The new estimate is based on population

changes in the most recent U.S. census.

HHS and the

ADA are using the new term "pre-diabetes" to describe an increasingly

common condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal

but not yet diabetic known in medicine as impaired glucose tolerance or

impaired fasting glucose. Studies have shown that most people with this

condition go on to develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years.

The panel which

includes doctors and other diabetes experts, with representatives from

HHS' National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

(NIDDK) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that

intervention in pre-diabetes is critical for three reasons. First, simply

having blood glucose levels in the pre-diabetes range puts a person at

a 50 percent greater likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke. Second,

research shows that the development of type 2 diabetes can be delayed

or prevented through modest lifestyle improvements. Third, for many people,

modest lifestyle improvements can "turn back the clock" and

return elevated blood glucose levels to the normal range.

"This

new recommendation gives physicians added incentive to screen their middle-aged,

overweight patients for both type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes," Dr.

Kaufman of the ADA said. "If you have pre-diabetes, you need to know

it, so you can learn about the high risk of getting diabetes and the steps

you can take to prevent it. If you already have diabetes, you need to

be treated early to prevent complications."

The panel recommended

that doctors screen overweight people age 45 and older for pre-diabetes

during regular office visits using either one of the standard tests that

detect diabetes: the fasting blood glucose test, which identifies impaired

fasting glucose, or the oral glucose tolerance test, which identifies

impaired glucose tolerance.

The panel also

recommended that physicians consider screening adults younger than age

45 if they are significantly overweight and have one or more of the following

risk factors:

Family history

of diabetes.

Low HDL cholesterol

and high triglycerides.

High blood

pressure.

History of

gestational diabetes or gave birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds.

Belong to

a minority group (African-Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans/Latinos,

and Asian American/ Pacific Islanders are at increased risk for type 2

diabetes).

The expert

panel did not recommend routine use of prescription drugs as initial treatment

for people who have pre-diabetes. However, it did suggest that some people

benefit from drug therapy, which may be considered when appropriate.

The recommendations

resulted from the panel's analysis of several major studies that evaluated

strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes, including HHS' Diabetes Prevention

Program a major clinical trial involving more than 3,000 people that showed

prevention efforts can be effective. The Diabetes Prevention Program found

that diet and exercise resulting in a 5- to 7-percent weight loss lowered

the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. Participants lost weight

walking) at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

"About

16 million people in the country have pre-diabetes and most of them don't

know it," said panel member Dr. Judith Fradkin of NIDDK, which is

part of HHS' National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Now that we have

shown that we can prevent or delay diabetes, we need to find the people

who can benefit. These new practical recommendations can help."

The panel's

recommendations will be published in the ADA's Diabetes Care, a peer-reviewed

journal of clinical research focused on the nation's fifth deadliest disease.

The recommendations come as the incidence of obesity continues to rise

despite growing evidence about its adverse effects on health and survival.

In the United States, nearly 60 percent of adults are now considered significantly

overweight, and in adolescents the prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled

in the past 20 years.

As part of

Secretary Thompson's announcement, HHS provided copies of ADA's diabetes

risk-assessment tool, "Could You Have Diabetes and Not Know It?"

to HHS workers. The questionnaire allows users to roughly assess their

risks for diabetes quickly. Of the estimated 17 million people with diabetes

in the U.S., about 5.9 million are undiagnosed.

Diabetes is

a disorder of metabolism in which people have problems converting food

to energy. It is the leading cause of adult blindness, kidney failure,

and non-traumatic amputations, and a major cause of heart disease and

stroke.

More information

about research and recent advances related to diabetes is available at

<https://www.niddk.nih.gov>https://www.niddk.nih.gov or by calling

NIDDK's National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-860-8747.

Consumer information about diabetes is also available through the National

Diabetes Education Program, an effort sponsored jointly by NIH and HHS'

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 200 public and private

partners, at https://www.ndep.nih.gov/ . Information about diabetes

statistics and state programs is available at https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes

or by calling 1-800-CDC-DIAB (1-800-232-3422).

More information

about the ADA is available at https://www.diabetes.org or by calling

1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383).

Back

to Healthwise Home Page |