Diabetes Statistics

Approximately 17 million people in the United States (or about 8% of the population), have been diagnosed with diabetes. An additional 12 million people in the United States are thought to have diabetes but have yet to be diagnosed. It is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. after heart disease and cancer.

Roughly 10% of the diagnosed population has type 1 diabetes and the remaining 90% have type 2 diabetes.

From an economic perspective, the total annual cost of diabetes in 1997 was estimated to be $98 billion in the United

States. The per capita cost resulting from diabetes that year amounted to $10,071, while average healthcare costs for

people without diabetes incurred a per capita cost of $2,699.00. During this same year, 13.9 million days of hospital stay

were attributed to diabetes, with 30.3 million physician office visits attributed to diabetes.

Here are some other interesting statistics:

In 1995 there were 30 million people over the age of 65 in the U.S., or 12.0% of the population;

In 2030 there will be 60 million people over the age of 65 in the U.S., or 21.0% of the population;

The geriatric population in the U.S. will double by the year 2030;

5,000 people reach age 65 each day;

By the year 2030 there will be as many people over the age of 85 as there are currently over the age of 65.

The odds of seeing Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy:

Increase with the age of patient;

Increase with the duration of diabetes;

Increase with the severity of hyperglycemia; and

After 20 years, 42% of diabetics will have neuropathy.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is associated with an increased risk of foot ulceration, and

Of the 17 million people in the United States with diabetes stated earlier, about 2 million (15%) of those may develop foot related ulcers--and they are 12 times more likely to undergo amputation than non-diabetics. Roughly 5-15% of diabetic patients require an amputation at some point in their lives. 15% of all diabetics will develop problem wounds.

In 1990, over 54,000 non-traumatic lower extremity amputations occurred among diabetics (8.3 per 1,000); this resulted in 648,570 days of hospital care (28% of total hospital days).

Almost 50% of amputations are preventable (approx. 20,000) with proper intervention.

Diabetics are at 15 times the risk of experiencing limb amputations following initial injury as compared with the non-diabetic population.

(The following is included only for use if someone in the audience is specifically interested).

Cost of Treatment of the Diabetic Foot

Medical Cost: (1992) $85 billion (average of $45,000 per patient)

Indirect cost: (1992) $47 billion (disability, lost work, rehabilitation, loss of future earning power)

Medical efforts must be directed at patient education, prevention, early detection, and prompt treatment of foot infections.[9]

The American Diabetes Association does not recommend general screening of the population for type 1 diabetes, though

screening of high risk individuals, such as those with a sibling or parent with type 1 diabetes should be encouraged. Type 1 diabetes tends to occur in young, lean individuals, usually before age 30. Older adults do present with this form of diabetes on occasion. This subgroup is termed latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). LADA is a slow, progressive form of type 1 diabetes. Of all the patients with diabetes, only approximately 10% of the patients have type 1 diabetes and the remaining 90% have type 2 diabetes.

While it is said that type 2 diabetes occurs mostly in individuals over 30 years old and the incidence increases with age, there is a trend toward young teens presenting with type 2 diabetes. In fact, for the first time, type 2 diabetes is now more common than type 1 diabetes in childhood. Most of these cases are attributed to poor eating habits, excess body weight, and lack of exercise. While the genetic component to developing this form of diabetes is important, there are other risk factors to consider, mainly obesity. There is a direct relationship between the degree of obesity and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and this holds true in children as well as adults. Best estimates place the chance of getting diabetes as doubling with every 20% increase over the person’s ideal body weight. Regarding age, data shows that for each decade after 40 years of age there is an increase in the incidence of diabetes (regardless of weight).