November is National Diabetes Month — a month to spread awareness about the diabetes epidemic that is impacting Americans, and to educate people about lifestyle habits and choices that can increase or lessen the risk of developing diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes and face its devastating consequences. Unfortunately, the increasing prevalence of diabetes on a national level also holds true in the state of Pennsylvania.
Here’s a rundown of diabetes numbers in PA:
Every year an estimated 63,000 people in Pennsylvania are diagnosed with diabetes.
- 1,374,000 people — 12.0 percent of the adult population — have diabetes
- Out of these 1,374,000 people, an estimated 325,000 have diabetes but don’t know it
- 3,505,000 people — 35.8 percent of the adult population —have prediabetes
People with diabetes have medical expenses approximately 2.3 times higher than those who do not have diabetes. Six years ago, the total direct medical expenses for diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes and gestational diabetes in Pennsylvania was estimated at $10.2 billion. Today, diabetes and prediabetes cost an estimated $13.4 billion in Pennsylvania each year because of the serious complications of diabetes include heart disease, stroke, amputation, end-stage kidney disease, blindness – and death.
For a crash course in Diabetes 101, Healthy Me PA sat down with expert Cindy Donovan, MA RDN, Diabetes Program Coordinator at St. Clair Hospital’s Diabetes Center.
To help spread diabetes awareness in education in Allegheny and Washington Counties, St. Clair Hospital’s Diabetes Center is available to provide patients support.
“Allegheny County has a diabetes rate of 10 percent, which is worse than the state at large (8.8 percent),” Donovan said. “And Washington County is at 10.8 percent.”
St. Clair’s Diabetes Center offers both individual education and group education for diagnosed and undiagnosed patients. They see individuals for self-management education and for nutrition consults.
Donovan told us the risk factors for developing prediabetes, which can then lead to Type 2 diabetes, is made up of lifestyle behaviors and genetic predispositions. Here are the main risk factors to pay attention to:
- Family history. “A person who has a strong family history of diabetes, especially in a parent or sibling, they would definitely be at risk for prediabetes,” Donovan said.
- Ethnicity. The risk is higher for people of different ethnic groups, especially for African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans.
- Gender. Men are more at risk than women.
- Age. “Once you are 65 years old, your risk for diabetes is 25 percent,” she said.
- Weight. “If you have a BMI higher than 25, or a waist circumference of more than 35 inches for women or 40 inches for men, you’re more at risk as well,” Donovan said.
What can you do if you have any of these risk factors?
“What we recommend for people — whether it’s for diabetes and prediabetes prevention or for current diabetes management — is to lose at least 5 percent of their overall body weight and to reach the goal of at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week,” Donovan said.
She also recommended avoiding sugar-sweetened drinks, as studies have found a direct link between them and diabetes. That includes sodas and fruit juice. “Although drinks may say they’re naturally sweetened, they are still high in carbohydrates that could get into the bloodstream and potentially raise glucose levels,” she said.
Knowing these risk factors and behavioral changes can help you have more informed discussions with your doctor and help keep you on the road toward a healthy lifestyle.