Not only do 21 million adults in the U.S. have diabetes, but half of them rate their own health as being either “fair” or “poor” as well. This gives some insight into the massive toll that the epidemic disease is taking on people’s quality of life. Those who have diabetes are three times more likely than other people to say that their health is waning. All of this comes courtesy of a new report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The statistics come from 2005 and were culled from an ongoing survey of health and risk factors. One potentially serious problem is that diabetics who rate their health as poor may be suffering from a complication of the disease, such as kidney problems, vision loss, poor circulation in the legs (even amputation), and heart disease. In any event, 49.3% of diabetics said their health was poor or fair — a figure three times worse than adults who don’t have diabetes.
For the past decade, according to the CDC, the rate of health decline among diabetics over the age of 45 has remained constant. It’s always somewhere around 50%. But it’s the younger individuals with diabetes who are increasingly reporting less-than-optimal health. In 1996, 36% of diabetics aged 18 to 44 reported being in fair or poor health. In 2005 the number jumped to 43%.
In any event, diabetes is a major burden on the United States health care system. Between 1996 and 2003, the number of adult diabetics jumped by about four million people to nearly 14 million people. Plus, what these people spent on prescription medications escalated 86%.
A separate study, the government’s “Health, United States” report, found that in 2006 the rate of diabetes is still growing. A phenomenal one-quarter of all adults over 60 have Type 2 diabetes. Alongside diabetes is chronic pain, which is also on a considerable rise. As people live longer, the risk of developing a chronic condition of pain rises. About one-quarter of adults report having pain that lasts at least one day while 10% say their pain lasts longer than one year.
The government acknowledges that the rate of diabetes is escalating, obesity rates are on the rise, and chronic (meaning long lasting) conditions are becoming increasingly prevalent. While heart disease remains the number one cause of death, the condition is actually on the decline. The death rate due to cancer is also on the decline as well, which offers somewhat of a silver lining to the current state of health in the United States.
Amongst the good and bad news, the picture on diabetes is clear: it’s still taking a major toll on America’s health.
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