The number of Americans adults affected by diabetes was more than 23 million in 2016. The findings were published March 30 in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Compared to the number of people with diabetes worldwide, 422 million in 2014.
Type 2 diabetes:
Of the number of Americans with diabetes, the majority about 21 million cases are caused by type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is often linked to overweight or obesity, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Type 1 Diabetes:
Another 1.3 million cases in the United States are attributed to type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder where the body fails to produce enough of the blood sugar hormone insulin.
The number of American with diabetes is now nearly 10 percent of the adult population.
The new CDC numbers were based on 2016 data on more than 33,000 adults from the federal government’s National Interview Survey. The 2016 survey was the first to help distinguish diabetes by type.
According to the CDC, certain populations seem to be hit harder by either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. For example, white adults had a higher prevalence of diagnosed type 1 diabetes than did Hispanic adults, while blacks had the highest prevalence of diagnosed type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 increasing among Hispanics and blacks:
While type 2 diabetes affected about 8 percent of white adults, that number rose to 9 percent of Hispanics and 11.5 percent of blacks.
Overall, diabetes prevalence rose with advancing age but fell as levels of education and income improved.
While therapies for type 2 diabetes are entering the marketplace at a rapid pace, the number of patients with diabetes type 2 continues to grow.
Find out about the warning signs of diabetes at the American Diabetes Association.
