Basic Summary for Diabetes

Main name of condition: Diabetes
Other names or spellings: Diabetes Mellitus, Sugar Diabetes

What is Diabetes?
  Brief description of Diabetes: Failing or reduced ability of the body to handle sugars.
  Parent types of Diabetes: All Disease Categories, Chronic Illness, Systemic disorders, Immune deficiency conditions, Pancreas conditions, Under-diagnosed conditions, Silent conditions, Polygenic diseases, Endocrine disorders, Metabolic disorders
  Organs Affected by Diabetes: pancreas
  Types of Diabetes: Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, Impaired glucose tolerance, Gestational diabetes, MODY diabetes, Malnutrition-Related Diabetes, Secondary diabetes, Lipoatrophic diabetes

How many people get Diabetes?
  Prevalance of Diabetes: 16 million Americans with 10.3 million diagnosed and 8.1 million women (NWHIC); 65 per 1000 - NHIS95; 8 million - perhaps 16 million if include not-yet-diagnosed.
  Prevalance Rate of Diabetes: approx 1 in 17 or 5.88% or 16 million people in USA [about data]
  Incidence (annual) of Diabetes: approximately 798,000 new cases diagnosed annually in USA (CDC-OC)
  Incidence Rate of Diabetes: approx 1 in 340 or 0.29% or 798,000 people in USA [about data]
  Undiagnosed prevalence of Diabetes: 5.7 million Americans (based on NWHIC)
  Undiagnosed prevalence rate of Diabetes: approx 1 in 47 or 2.10% or 5.7 million people in USA [about data]
  Worldwide prevalence:135 million cases worldwide 1995
  Prevalance of Diabetes: According to recent estimates, the prevalence of diabetes in the United States is predicted to be 8.9 percent of the population by 2025. ¹ ... About 16 million Americans have diabetes, but only about 10 million have been diagnosed.²
  Incidence of Diabetes: Approximately 798,000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed annually in the United States.² ... New cases diagnosed per year: 798,000. ³

Who gets Diabetes?
  Patient Profile for Diabetes: Most commonly overweight over 40's with Type 2 diabetes; infants, children or teenagers typically have Type 1 diabetes.
  Profile for Diabetes: Most common in older people, overweight and sedentary people, African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, and Hispanic Americans. ¹
  Gender Profile for Diabetes: About equal males and females.

How serious is Diabetes?
  Prognosis of Diabetes: Good in the short-term, possibility of severe complications later in life.
  Average life years lost for Diabetes: 13.8 years (SEER)⁴; 15.4 in North Carolina⁵; 2.1 average YPLL/person for diabetes (underlying cause of death) in Michigan⁶.
  Deaths for Diabetes: 71,372 deaths in USA 2001 (CDC); 68,399 annual deaths or 2.9% of deaths (CDC/1999)
  Cause of death rank for Diabetes: 6th leading cause of death in 1999 and 2000 (CDC).
  Complications of Diabetes: see complications of Diabetes

What causes Diabetes?
  Cause of Diabetes: Either reduced insulin production or poor insulin metabolism, depending on subtype.
  Causes of Diabetes: see causes of Diabetes
  Risk factors for Diabetes: see risk factors for Diabetes

What are the symptoms of Diabetes?
Symptoms of Diabetes: see symptoms of Diabetes

Can anyone else get Diabetes?
More information: see contagiousness of Diabetes

How is it treated?
  Treatments for Diabetes: see treatments for Diabetes
  Prevention of Diabetes: see prevention of Diabetes
  Research for Diabetes: see research for Diabetes

Society issues for Diabetes
Costs of Diabetes: DCCT researchers estimate that intensive management doubles the cost of managing diabetes because of increased visits to a health care professional and the need for more frequent blood testing at home. However, this cost is offset by the reduction in medical expenses related to long-term complications and by the improved quality of life of people with diabetes.⁷

Cost statistics for Diabetes: The following are statistics from various sources about costs and Diabetes:

$132 billion in direct and indirect costs in America (CBCF Health Organisation, 2004)
$9 billion dollars annually in Canada (Health Canada)
8,304 prescriptions for diabetes in Canada 1998 (Intercontinental Medical Statistics Canada,1998)
Estimated lifetime cost for Type 1 diabetes is about $190,000 in Australia 1993-94 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2003)
Estimated lifetime cost for Type 2 diabetes is about $25,000 in Australia 1993-94 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2003)
$681 million spent on the disease and its complications in Australia 1993-94 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2003)
Total cost of diabetes was $132 billion in the US 2002 (American Diabetes Association, NIDDK, 2003)
Direct medical cost of diabetes was $92 billion in the US 2002 (American Diabetes Association, NIDDK, 2003)
Indirect cost of diabetes was $42 billion in the US 2002 (American Diabetes Association, NIDDK, 2003)

Hospitalization statistics for Diabetes: The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Diabetes:

562,000 hospital discharges occurred for diabetes in the US 2001 (2001 National Hospital Discharge Survey, NCHS, CDC)
0.53% (68,232) of hospital episodes were for diabetes mellitus in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
78% of hospital consultations for diabetes mellitus required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
54% of hospital episodes for diabetes mellitus were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
46% of hospital episodes for diabetes mellitus were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
59% of hospital admissions for diabetes mellitus required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
10.4 days was the mean length of stay in hospitals for diabetes mellitus in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
4 days was the median length of stay in hospitals for diabetes mellitus in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
51 was the mean age of patients hospitalised for diabetes mellitus in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
46% of hospitalisations for diabetes mellitus occurred in 15-59 year olds in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
19% of hospitalisations for diabetes mellitus occurred in people over 75 in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
25% of hospitalisations for diabetes mellitus were single day episodes in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
0.7% (368,493) of hospital bed days were for diabetes mellitus in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
0.013% (1,701) of hospital consultant episodes were for elevated blood glucose level in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
84% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
46% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
54% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
55% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
5 days was the mean length of stay in hospitals for elevated blood glucose level in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
2 days was the median length of stay in hospitals for elevated blood glucose level in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
49 was the mean age of patients hospitalised for elevated blood glucose level in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
49% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level occurred in 15-59 year olds in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
19% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level occurred in people over 75 in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
22% of hospital consultant episodes for elevated blood glucose level were single day episodes in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
% (5,128) of hospital bed days were for elevated blood glucose level in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
Hospitalization statistics in Australia:
- Hospitalisations for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus at public hospitals occurred in 8.7 people per 10,000 population in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 9.5 days was the mean length of stay in public hospitals for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
Hospitalization statistics in Australia for public hospitals:
- 0.05% (11) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 5 to 14 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 0.28% (58) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 15 to 24 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 1.17% (243) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 25 to 34 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 3.78% (783) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 35 to 44 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 11.43% (2,366) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 45 to 54 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 20.7% (4,286) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 55 to 64 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 30.3% (6,270) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 65 to 74 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 27% (5,581) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged 75 to 84 years in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)
- 5.3% (1,095) of hospital episodes for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in public hospitals occurred in males aged over 85 in Australia 2001-02 (Australian Hospital Data, AIHW, Australia, 2001-02)

Physician office visit statistics for Diabetes: The following are statistics from various sources about physician office visits and Diabetes:

26.9 million visits were made to a physician’s office for diabetes in the US 2001 (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2001 Summary, NCHS, CDC)
2.6 million visits were made to a hospital outpatient department for diabetes in the US 2001 (National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2001 Summary, NCHS, CDC)
12,502,000 people visited a physician’s office primarily for diabetes mellitus in the US 2001 (National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2001)

Footnotes:
1. excerpt from Diabetes Overview: NIDDK
2. excerpt from Facts About Diabetes: CDC-OC
3. excerpt from Diabetes Statistics in the United States: NIDDK
4. SEER Cancer Statistics Review 1975-2000, National Cancer Institute (NCI)
5. Years of Potential Life Lost in North Carolina, NCMJ March/April 2002, Volume 63, Number 2
6. Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, MDCH, Michigan, USA
7. excerpt from Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT): NIDDK

Last revision: April 10, 2003

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