ATLANTA --- The rate of new diabetes cases nearly doubled in the United States in the last 10 years, with the highest levels in the South, the government said Thursday in its first state-by-state review of new diagnoses.
The highest rate was in West Virginia, where about 13 in 1,000 adults were diagnosed with the disease. The lowest was in Minnesota, where the rate is 5 in 1,000.
About 90 percent of the cases are Type 2 diabetes, the form linked to obesity. The findings echo geographic trends seen with obesity and physical inactivity, which are also tied to heart disease. Southern states rank worst in those measures, too.
The study provides important new information on where new cases are emerging each year, giving a more timely picture of where the disease is exploding. The information should be a big help as the government and health insurers decide where to focus prevention campaigns, he said.
The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covered most states.
More than 23 million Americans have diabetes. The number is growing quickly. About 1.6 million new cases were diagnosed in people 20 or older last year, according to the CDC.
Some studies have offered state-specific estimates of diabetes cases, but this is the first to chart where new cases are being diagnosed.
"It's important work," said Angela Liese, a diabetes researcher at the University of South Carolina, who was not involved in the CDC study.
The study involved a random-digit-dialed survey of more than 260,000 adults. Participants were asked if they'd ever been told by a doctor that they have diabetes, and when the diagnosis was made.
The annual rate of new diabetes cases rose from about 5 per 1,000 in the mid-1990s to 9 per 1,000 in the mid-2000s, according to data gathered for 33 states.
The researchers had data for 40 states for the years 2005-07. West Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee had the highest rates, all at 11 per 1,000 or higher.
The report only asked about diagnosed diabetes. Because an estimated 1 in 4 diabetics have not been diagnosed, the findings probably underestimate the problem, Ms. Liese said. The underestimates may be bad in the rural South and other areas where patients have trouble getting health care, she noted.
Comments
NAET treatments and common sense make this an easy problem to fix. This problem is not caused by lack of health care. As the United States adds more and more health care we get sicker and sicker and rate 37th among nations in length of life and it keeps going down, Many great doctors have spent years learning how to treat disease and were never taugh how to cure it.
Two of the biggest reasons - Supersizing meals and prepackaged microwave foods; and a smaller reason - kiddie meals. You can have all the preventive care in the world but until you go back to preparing your own meals from basic ingredients you're going to continue raising the risk for this and many other diseases.
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