US prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes reaches new high

More than 40 percent of American adults aged 20 years and older have hyperglycemic conditions, according to review of data from the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

In this study of the National Institutes of Health compared NHANES data for 1988-1994 with data for 2005-2006. The total crude prevalence of diabetes, including diagnosed and undiagnosed cases based on fasting plasma glucose or 2-hour glucose tests, was 13 percent in individuals aged 20 years and older. The total diabetes prevalence peaked at approximately the same in both men and women.

After the researchers controlled for age and sex, the total diabetes prevalence was 70 percent higher in non-Hispanic blacks and 80 percent higher in Mexican Americans, compared with non-Hispanic whites.

The total crude prevalence of prediabetes, including both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases based on impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) tests was 30 percent, and this prevalence was highest among individuals aged 75 years and older, where it reached 47 percent.

The total prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, was significantly higher than men, compared with women (48 percent vs. 34 percent), but most of this difference was because of the greater prevalence of prediabetes among men. And the prevalence of any hyperglycemic condition was significantly higher in non-Hispanic whites (52 percent vs. 39 percent).

When the researchers compared the 2005-2006 data with the data for 1988-1994, they found that the crude prevalence of diagnosed diabetes rose significantly, from 5 percent to 8 percent.

“The sheer magnitude of prevalence of hyperglycemic conditions found in 2005-2006 portends all the consequences of diabetes, including its myriad of complications and costs both to individuals and to society,” the researchers wrote.