- November is National Diabetes Month, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sounding the alarm for people to get checked before they develop diabetes or another serious health condition
- Doctors report that more than 10% of the U.S. population is diagnosed with diabetes, and more than 1 in 3 U.S. adults have prediabetes
- People can go online at DoIHavePrediabetes.org and take a one-minute risk test to determine whether they have the condition
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Ian Collins of Allentown was a 28-year-old undergraduate when, he said, he started experiencing symptoms that he said he almost overlooked.
“I had to use the bathroom a lot, which wasn't totally abnormal and I lost a whole bunch of weight," Collins said.
"I'm already tiny. I just thought it was stress and I was really tired all the time and I would walk upstairs and be exhausted and I thought ‘Oh, I'm just really out of shape.’
"You know, all those excuses, but then I had a really epic dry mouth.”
Collins was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He said he had no family history of diabetes.
"Pre-diabetes is really a wake-up call. It's an opportunity to reverse or prevent or delay progression of Type 2 diabetes.Dr. Christopher Holliday, the CDC's director of the division of diabetes translation
November is National Diabetes Month, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sounding the alarm for people to get checked before they develop diabetes or another serious health condition.
Doctors report that more than 10% of the U.S. population is diagnosed with diabetes, and more than 1 in 3 U.S. adults have prediabetes.
The CDC has partnered with the Ad Council on a “Be Your Own Hero” campaign to help people determine if they have prediabetes.
"Pre-diabetes is really a wake-up call," said Dr. Christopher Holliday, the CDC's director of the division of diabetes translation. "It's an opportunity to reverse or prevent or delay progression of Type 2 diabetes.
“It's really focused on adults across the nation, one in three of which have pre-diabetes, and 81 percent of them don't know they have it. So that's 98 million people in the U.S. that have prediabetes, and the campaign essentially helps them to be aware."
The costs of diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is less common than Type 2, but both come with a cost.
“I have to think about it all the time," Collins said. "I don't have a break, right, so I have to count carbs. So anything I eat, I have to give them myself insulin for it most of the time.
“With Type 1, my pancreas stopped producing insulin. So I have to basically think like my pancreas all the time.”
"A nine-month supply [of insulin] could be over $3,000. I'm very blessed to have good health insurance, but not everyone does."Ian Collins, of Allentown, has Type 1 diabetes
Collins uses an insulin pump to regulate his insulin level. The device sticks to the skin with a small tube inserted into the body and has to be changed every few days.
Collins said the device is more costly than the traditional manual injections.
"A nine-month supply [of insulin] could be over $3,000," he said. "I'm very blessed to have good health insurance, but not everyone does.
“I do have a co-pay, so, I mean, so I do have to pay, like, $70 dollars, but that's better than a lot of times. I mean, I was paying with my old insurance over $100.”
Collins’ story paints a picture of the mental and financial toll people diagnosed with the disease have to endure. Type 1 is irreversible and thought to possibly be linked to a gene.
Type 2 diabetes also is not curable, however, insulin levels can be managed with diet and exercise changes, according to the CDC.
Getting tested
Holliday said people can go online at DoIHavePrediabetes.org and take a one-minute risk test to determine whether they have the condition.
"If you're a woman, if you've ever had gestational diabetes, whether you have some added weight, whether or not you have a sedentary lifestyle, or have a close family member that's had Type 2 two diabetes — like a mother, father, sister and brother. ... These factors can put you at high risk for having pre-diabetes or undiagnosed diabetes.”Dr. Christopher Holliday, the CDC's director of the division of diabetes translation
“That risk test asks about certain factors, like whether if you're a woman, if you've ever had gestational diabetes, whether you have some added weight, whether or not you have a sedentary lifestyle, or have a close family member that's had Type 2 two diabetes — like a mother, father, sister and brother," he said.
"And these factors can put you at high risk for having pre-diabetes or undiagnosed diabetes.”
He said people who believe they may be prediabetic can talk to their doctor and have a confirmatory blood test to see if they actually have prediabetes.
From there, Holliday said, “There's several options that they can take from there, including having their physician refer them to a lifestyle change program that's part of CDCs National Diabetes Prevention Program.
"And this essentially is a lifestyle change program that affords the participants a coach, a lifestyle coach that helps them to make modest changes to their lifestyle to help prevent progression of Type 2 diabetes.
"It includes losing 5 percent to 7 percent of their weight, their body weight. It includes helping to manage stress, it includes helping to eat better and to move more and getting the requisite amount of physical activity every day, which is really 20 minutes.”
Public health, economic crisis
Holliday said diabetes is not only costly to the patient trying to manage his or her condition with medications and devices, but it’s a financial burden to the healthcare system, as well.
“People with diagnosed diabetes are two and a half times more costly to the health care system than someone without diabetes. And recent reports out of the American Diabetes Association shows that $412 billion in health care costs are expended annually, and that's due to lost wages or lost work for people that have diagnosed diabetes.”Dr. Christopher Holliday, the CDC's director of the division of diabetes translation
“People with diagnosed diabetes are two and a half times more costly to the health care system than someone without diabetes," he said.
"And recent reports out of the American Diabetes Association shows that $412 billion in health care costs are expended annually, and that's due to lost wages or lost work for people that have diagnosed diabetes.”
He said he believes diabetes is not only a public health crisis, from a health perspective, but an economic one, as well.
He said the CDC wants to make sure it is preventing people from progressing to Type 2 diabetes for better health outcomes and to curb costs.
