Diabetes Statistics Article

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes in the world. It affects about 17 million people in the United States. In the past, it occurred mostly in middleaged and older individuals, but nowadays it is often seen in younger people, including children and teenagers. There are more new cases of type 2 diabetes in the United States than ever before, and there are many reasons for this:

Obesity increases the risk for diabetes, and there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity (number of people who are obese). The increase in the rate of diabetes parallels the increase in the rate of obesity (see Figure 2-1).

Diabetes occurs more frequently in older individuals, and the population is aging.

Ethnic minorities, especially African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian- Americans, have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and there has been an increase in these populations in the United States.

There is a heightened awareness of diabetes because it has been widely reported in the media in recent years, and so people may be diagnosed earlier than before.

Recent changes in the way diabetes is diagnosed (measuring fasting glucose rather than doing a two-hour oral glucose tolerance test) have also made it easier to diagnose diabetes.