According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects more than 25 million people in the U.S. The total cost burden of diabetes was estimated at $174 billion in 2007 - $116 billion for direct medical costs and $58 billion for indirect costs such as disability and work loss. Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions and the outlook is not encouraging. The American Association of Diabetes Educators estimates that there are an additional 79 million Americans with “prediabetes,” an elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) today applauded Health Affairs for taking diabetes head on and for advancing the importance of addressing this costly chronic disease before its consequences erode the overall health of Americans and further challenge our U.S. health care system and budget deficit. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes and approximately 79 million adults have pre-diabetes. CDC estimates that as many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue. Health Affairs’ January 2012 issue and today’s briefing entitled “Confronting The Growing Diabetes Crisis” underscore the critical nature of diabetes prevention and help to promote some of the ideas, programs and policies aimed at more effectively averting, detecting and managing the disease. Read the release here.
