Diabetes Alert Day is a national campaign to raise awareness about the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This is a national “wake-up call” – warning of the seriousness of diabetes and urgently stressing the importance of understanding your risk. Over time diabetes will have severe effects on your health if left untreated.

Nearly 1 in 5 people ages 18 or older are currently living with diabetes and are unaware they have it. That’s about 8.5 million people. More than 8 in 10 adults living with prediabetes don’t know they have it.

Here are some facts from the CDC:

• • • More than 37 million people in the United States have diabetes, and 1 in 5 of them don’t know they have it.
    • 96 million US adults—over a third—have prediabetes, and more than 8 in 10 of them don’t know they have it.
    • Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States (this may be underreported).
    • Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes; type 1 diabetes accounts for approximately 5-10%.
    • In the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled as the American population has aged and become more overweight or obese.
    • Medical costs and lost work and wages for people with diagnosed diabetes total $327 billion yearly.
    • Medical costs for people with diabetes are twice as high as for people who don’t have diabetes.

Complications that can affect people with diabetes:

Take a quick, 60-second test to learn if you are at risk for type 2 diabetes:
https://chccares.link/diabetes

If you know or think you are at risk, make an appointment at CHC today to take back control of your health.

Learn more about the CDC’s diabetes risk factors.