• Posted November 6, 2024

U.S. Diabetes Rates Rise to Nearly 1 in 6 Adults

Nearly 16% of American adults -- that's close to 1 in 6 -- now has diabetes, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Increasing age and widening waistlines greatly increase the odds for the disease, which happens when the body doesn't use insulin properly, resulting in high blood sugar levels. If left unchecked, diabetes can be disabling and even life-threatening.

The vast majority (95%) of diabetes cases are type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body's cells no longer respond to insulin as they should. Insulin regulates levels of sugar in the blood. Type 2 diabetes is strongly connected to excessive weight.

The new data, collected from mid-2021 through mid-2023, found a big rise in diabetes rates since 1999-2000, when 9.7% of adult Americans had the disease.

There was a significant gender gap in diabetes rates in 2023: Nearly 1 in 5 men (18%) have the illness, compared to 12.9% of women, according to researchers at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Not surprisingly, diabetes rates rose with age: While just 3.6% of adults under 40 had the illness, rates rose to 12.1% for folks ages 40 to 59, and to 20.5% for people 60 and older.

Obesity also mattered: Nearly a quarter (24.2%) of obese adults now have diabetes, the NCHS report found. That's compared to 12.3% of folks who are overweight but not obese, and 6.8% of normal/underweight adults.

Finally, education also seems to matter: While about 1 in every 5 (19.6%) of Americans with a high school degree are diabetic, the rate falls to 10.7% for people with a college degree, the researchers found.

The report, published Nov. 6 as an NCHS Data Brief, also noted that many cases of diabetes aren't diagnosed, posing a real health danger: About 4.5% of adult Americans have diabetes but do not know it.

That's a hidden hazard, the researchers said, because "uncontrolled blood glucose levels over a long period of time can affect multiple organ systems, including the nervous system, kidneys, eyes, heart and blood vessels."

More information

Find out more about diabetes at the American Heart Association.

SOURCE: NCHS Data Brief, Nov. 6, 2024