Why the Rise of Type 2 Diabetes Should Concern Us
One reason type 2 diabetes is such a major health issue is that it has become so common that many people no longer see it as especially alarming. However, it was much less common in the past than it is in today's society. In the United States specifically, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was less than 1% in 1958 and increased to 9.4% in 2015. Today, 40.1 million Americans have diabetes, and about 90% to 95% of diagnosed cases are type 2 diabetes. This shows how drastically the disease is shifting over time
The number of adults living with diabetes globally rose from 200 million in 1990 to 830 million in 2022, with adult prevalence doubling from 7% to 14% (WHO). This trend is expected to keep increasing in the future. The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 589 million adults ages 20 to 79 were living with diabetes in 2024, with that number projected to rise to 853 million by 2050. This would mean about 1 in 8 adults would have diabetes.
This matters because type 2 diabetes is not just a condition of elevated blood sugars. Over time, uncontrolled diabetes can lead to CV events, kidney failure, eye & nerve damage, and limb amputations. In 2021, the WHO reported that diabetes was the direct cause of 1.6 million deaths worldwide, with diabetes related kidney disease causing another 530,000 deaths. They also estimate that high blood glucose levels were responsible for 11% of cardiovascular deaths. In the United States, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death and the leading cause of kidney failure, lower limb amputations, and adult blindness. These complications caused by diabetes make it clear that this disease should not be viewed as just another chronic condition simply because it is common.
Diabetes also contributes substantially to the healthcare spending in the United States. The American Diabetes Association estimates that diagnosed diabetes cost the United States $412.9 billion in 2022. People with diagnosed diabetes account for 1 in every 4 health care dollars spent in the U.S., and their medical spending is 2.6 times higher than that of people without diabetes. These huge costs, along with the increasing prevalence of the disease, show us that type 2 diabetes is placing a massive and growing burden on our healthcare system.
https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2020/19_0213.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/about/index.html
https://diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/ADA-2024-Staggering-Costs-Of-Diabetes.pdf
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