Miami, .- The new cases of diabetes diagnosed in the United States decreased 35% in 2017 from its peak in 2009 and after 20 years of increase, reported on Tuesday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the country.
The health authority also stressed that the number of people living with diabetes diagnosed in the United States has remained stable for the past eight years.
To date, more than 30 million Americans are living with diabetes, and 1 in 4 do not know they have it, the CDC said.
The researchers, however, said they do not know the causes of these decreases, but believe that it is partly due to a greater awareness and emphasis on the prevention of type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 95% of cases.
Also to changes in diet and physical activity, and to the evolution in the practices of diagnosis and detection of the disease.
“The findings suggest that our work to stop the tide of type 2 diabetes may be working, but we still have a long way to go,” said Ann Albright, CDC’s diabetes specialist.
In the United States, the number of people with diagnosed diabetes and new cases of diabetes doubled in the 1990s and during the 2000s, becoming one of the most worrisome public health threats in the country.
However, new cases have decreased from 1.7 million in 2008 to 1.3 million in 2017, the CDC said.
“We must continue with proven interventions and deploy innovative strategies if we are going to see a steady decline in type 2 diabetes among Americans,” Albright said.
Diabetes can lead to serious health complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputations of the lower extremities that can not be controlled through the use of medications or insulin, a balanced diet and regular physical activity.
The number of people living with diagnosed diabetes increased by 4.4% per year between 1990 and 2009 to a maximum of 8.2 per 100 adults, before stabilizing at 8 per 100 adults in 2017.
“Similar trends were observed in all ages, racial and ethnic groups, sexes and levels of education,” the CDC said.
They explained that trends in population subgroups suggest that the decline in new cases of diabetes may have been driven primarily by a reduction among white non-Hispanic adults.
The CDC scientists used official 1980-2017 databases to observe trends in the prevalence and incidence of diabetes diagnosed among adults 18 to 79 years old (EFEUSA).
