Americans are getting fatter, and older. These converging trends are putting the USA on the path to an alarming health crisis: Nearly half of adults have either pre-diabetes or diabetes, raising their risk of heart attacks, blindness, amputations and cancer.
Federal health statistics show that 12.3% of Americans 20 and older have diabetes, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Another 37% have pre-diabetes, a condition marked by higher-than-normal blood sugar. That’s up from 27% a decade ago. An analysis of 16 studies involving almost 900,000 people worldwide, published in the current issue of the journal Diabetologia, shows pre-diabetes not only sets the stage for diabetes but also increases the risk of cancer by 15%.
“It’s bad everywhere,” says Philip Kern, director of the Barnstable Brown Diabetes and Obesity Center at the University of Kentucky. “You almost have the perfect storm of an aging population and a population growing more obese, plus fewer reasons to move and be active, and fast food becoming more prevalent.”
via Pre-diabetes, diabetes rates fuel national health crisis.
The health insurance crisis is a population health status crisis that is at its base an individual lifestyle crisis. That lifestyle crisis is ultimately a cultural crisis since cultural values influence lifestyle choices. In the 1970s and 1980s, exercise and fitness were cool. Hopefully they will come back in style — and soon.
Need a speaker or webinar presenter on the Affordable Care Act and the outlook for health care reform? Contact Pilot Healthcare Strategies Principal Fred Pilot by email
