This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information:
verify here.

Rewarding for
you and us
Defeat Diabetes Foundation

Defeat Diabetes
Foundation
150 153rd Ave,
Suite 300
Madeira Beach, FL 33708

10% of Those Who Get Diabetes, Will Get it Before the Age of 30 and Lose 14 Years of Life

Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Significant reductions in life expectancy were also shown and the researchers estimate that if an individual "is diagnosed at age 40 years, men will lose 11.6 life-years...and women will lose 14.3 life-years."

Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control warn of a substantial lifetime probability of developing diabetes for those born in the United States in 2000. The report is published in the October 8 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Diabetes mellitus will likely be diagnosed during the lifetime of 1 in 3 males and 2 in 5 females born in the United States in the year 2000, while among minority populations the estimated lifetime risk of diabetes mellitus is even higher.”

There are two types of diabetes Type 1 is called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes. It refers to a condition in which little or no insulin is produced by the pancreas (an organ next to the stomach). This is a rare and severe form of diabetes. It affects about 5 to 10 percent of all diabetics. Daily insulin injections are necessary to survive.

Type 2 diabetes is a far more common condition, affecting about 90 to 95 percent of all cases. Patients with type 2 diabetes do manufacture insulin, sometimes even more than necessary. However, for some reason their bodies reject and/or do not detect it, resulting in what the body perceives as a deficiency. This insulin blockage is due to cell abnormalities of unknown cause in the liver and muscles. The onset of this type of diabetes, was called adult-onset diabetes, because it usually occurs after age 30. But now it is called Type 2 because you do not have to be an adult to have it. Obesity and inactivity seems to play a large role in the development of type 2 diabetes; up to 90 percent of these patients are obese.

In the current study, Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan and colleagues note that there had been no published estimates of an individual's lifetime risk of being diagnosed with diabetes. This motivated their research, as diabetes "is one of the most prevalent and costly chronic diseases in the United States," they say.

Using data on over 350,000 persons from the National Health Interview Survey, and from the U.S. Census Bureau, the researchers sought to estimate "residual (remaining) lifetime risk of diabetes (from birth to 80 years in one- year intervals)," years of life lost due to diabetes, and mortality rates for diabetics and non-diabetics, based on age, sex, and race/ethnicity.

An analysis of the data found that males born in 2000 had a 32.8 estimated lifetime risk of developing diabetes (either type 1 or type 2); the risk for females, 38.5 percent. Hispanic males and females had the highest estimated lifetime risk, at 45.4 percent and 52.5 percent, respectively. Also shown were significant reductions in life expectancy. The researchers estimate that if an individual "is diagnosed at age 40 years, men will lose 11.6 life-years...and women will lose 14.3 life-years." Among those born in 2000, if diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 10 years, the researchers project males will live with diabetes for 49.0 years and will lose 18.7 life-years, while females will live with diabetes for 55.5 years and will lose 19.0 life-years. If diagnosed with diabetes at age 40 males will live with diabetes for 28.0 years and lose 11.6 life-years while same age females will live with diabetes for 30.8 years and will lose 14.3 life-years.

The lifetime probability of being diagnosed with diabetes is "substantial," say the researchers. They conclude by stressing the importance of "primary prevention" of diabetes and its consequences.

Source: Diabetes In Control.com: