Diabetes Statistics

Prevalence

United States: 14 million people (includes diagnosed and undiagnosed). (2)

• Total diagnosed: 7.3 million people. (3)
• Total undiagnosed: 6 to 7 million (persons 18 years and older). (2)
• Females diagnosed: 4.2 million. (3)
• Males diagnosed: 3.1 million. (3)
• Children diagnosed: about 80,000 (persons younger than 18). (3)
• Older adults diagnosed: 3.2 million (persons age 65 and older). (3)

Accounts for 90 to 95 percent of diagnosed diabetes and almost all undiagnosed cases. (2)

Insulin-dependent (Type I) diabetes (IDDM):

Accounts for 5 to 10 percent of diagnosed diabetes (no undiagnosed cases). (2)

• About half of IDDM patients are currently age 29 years or younger; the remainder are age 30 years or older. (2)

Incidence of new cases

• NIDDM: 320 new cases per 100,000 persons age 20 years or older diagnosed each year. (2)
• IDDM: 12 to 14 new cases per 100,000 persons age 16 years or younger diagnosed each year. (2)

Therapy for diabetes

• 40 percent of diabetes patients use insulin: 10 percent have IDDM; 30 percent have NIDDM. (2)
• 60 percent of diabetes patients use oral hypoglycemic drugs or diet alone; all have NIDDM. (2)

Mortality

Long-term complications

• Cardiovascular disease is two to four times more common in people with diabetes.
• Cardiovascular disease is present in 75 percent of diabetes-related deaths. (2)

Hypertension: Affects 60 to 65 percent of people with diabetes. (2) Blindness:

• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults over age 30.
• As many as 24,000 new cases per year in people with diabetes. (5)

• Diabetes is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease.
• 15,383 new cases per year (1990) in people with diabetes. (6)
• 40,514 people with diabetes undergoing dialysis or transplantation treatment. (6)

• Neuropathy is a major contributing cause of lower extremity amputations.
• Affects 90 percent of people with long-term diabetes. (2)

Pregnancy: Birth defects occur in 5 to 10 percent of babies born to women with IDDM, a rate four times higher than in women without diabetes. Three to 5 percent of pregnancies in women with IDDM result in death of the baby. (2)

Diabetes in minority populations

• African Americans: 1.1 million. (3)
• Hispanic Americans: 1.3 million (diagnosed, estimate). (2)
• Native Americans: Prevalence rates in adults range from 5 to 50 percent. (2)
• Asian Americans: Prevalence rate 15 to 20 percent (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in middle-aged and older Japanese Americans. (2) Rates for other Asian American populations are not available.

Cost of diabetes

Indirect cost: $47 billion in 1992 (disability, work loss, premature mortality). (8)

1. International Diabetes Federation, 1991 Directory
2. National Diabetes Data Group, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health (1994)
3. National Health Interview Survey (1991-1992), National Center for Health Statistics
4. Division of Diabetes Translation, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
5. National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (1994)
6. 1993 U.S. Renal Data System Annual Data Report
7. 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, DHHS
8. American Diabetes Association, 1993 Vital Statistics

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Public Health Service
National Institutes of Health