Sponsored Links
MedicalResources
| Diabetes cases are increasing rapidly in the U.S |
 |
 |
 |
| Medical News - General Medical News | |||
|
Diabetes cases are increasing rapidly in the U.S. with the disease that affects 11.3% of U.S. adults in the third quarter of 2009, according to a new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey. That's an increase of 10.4% in the first quarter last year. That means that about 26 million Americans have diabetes. Gallup-Healthways notes, if current trends continue, more than 37 million living with the disease in late 2015. Not coincidentally, the survey shows that the U.S. obesity rate is up about 1 percentage point in the fourth quarter in comparison to 2008. According to Gallup-Healthways, Americans who are obese are nearly three times more likely than not to be diagnosed with diabetes. "The upward trend in obesity rates will almost certainly play a key role in increasing rates of diabetes during the same period of time," says the study. "More than one fifth of obese adults [diabetes]" - or 21.2%, compared to 7. 4% of non-obese individuals of comparable age. The survey, echoing the findings of many studies, says one of the best ways to reduce obesity is exercise. Between January and September 2009, reported a much higher incidence of diabetes among those who did no exercise at least half an hour on any given day in the week before. According to Gallup-Healthways: * 8% of Americans with diabetes worked for at least 30 minutes a day, four to six times a week. * 9.5% worked for at least half an hour daily in the previous week. * 15% did not use at least 30 minutes in the week before they were surveyed. "Although exercise is seasonal and is expected to rise in the summer months, year over year comparisons show a decrease of 2009 by 2.7 percentage points of American adults who say they are exercising at least 30 minutes three or more times per week, compared with 2008, according to Gallup-Healthways. The 10 states with the largest increases in obesity 2008-2009 have, on average, there is also a corresponding increase of 0.5 percentage points in the incidence of diabetes, the survey sample. These states are Wyoming, Alaska, Minnesota, Maine, Idaho, Tennessee, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Texas. The 10 states where obesity rates have remained unchanged or decreased since 2008 has seen an average reduction in the incidence of diabetes reported 0.3 percentage points. These states - Delaware, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Louisiana, Virginia, Missouri, Nevada and Florida - to provide examples of future studies to learn more about diabetes management at the national level, according to Gallup-Healthways. The report was based on telephone interviews with 623,538 adults aged 18 and over, conducted from January to September 2009 and has a sampling error of + / - 0.3 percentage points.
|