Diabetes mellitus was the eighth leading cause of death in the United States in 2022, accounting for 3.1 percent of all deaths that year. At that time, around 8.4 percent of adults living in the United States had been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to six percent in the year 2000. Diabetes is a chronic metabolic health condition that affects the body’s ability to produce or use insulin in order to create energy from ingested food. There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, which is genetic and caused by an autoimmune response; type 2, which is related to lifestyle factors; and the third type, called gestational diabetes, which occurs only during pregnancy due to high blood sugar levels. The most common type of diabetes is type 2, with
contributing to a high level of risk for developing the disease.
Diabetes prevalence
As of 2022, around 24.4 million
people in the United States had been diagnosed with diabetes. Rates of diabetes in the U.S. increase with age and are higher among certain racial and ethnic groups. For example, around 16.8 percent of
non-Hispanic Black adults in the U.S. were thought to have diabetes from 2017 to 2020, compared to 11.2 percent of non-Hispanic white adults. The
states with the highest share of adults with diabetes are West Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana, while Utah and Colorado have the lowest rates. As of 2023, a shocking 18 percent of adults in West Virginia had diabetes.
Risk factors and treatment
Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes and has become a significant issue in the United States. In 2023, the
prevalence of obesity in the U.S. among adults was around 33 percent. Other risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes include a family history of diabetes, a personal history of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, low levels of HDL cholesterol, and high levels of triglycerides in the blood. Diabetes increases the risk for heart and cardiovascular diseases, which can lead to heart attack or stroke, as well as kidney disease and
eye problems. Another very common complication is neuropathy, or nerve damage, which often causes numbness and pain, most often in the feet and legs, and can elicit serious, hard-to-treat infections and amputation. Although type 1 diabetes is not preventable, strategies to prevent the other types of diabetes and resulting complications can be helpful in managing all types of the disease, including following a healthy eating plan, being physically active, and maintaining a healthy weight. Additionally, keeping blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible is key in managing diabetes, which is often done through measuring blood sugar levels, recording food intake, and taking insulin.
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