Diabetes Prevention and Control

Diabetes Fact Sheet

• • What is diabetes?
• • What are the symptoms of diabetes?
• • What are the types and risk factors of diabetes?
• • What is the treatment for diabetes?
• • Can diabetes be prevented?

What is diabetes?

Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugars to build up in your blood, a condition known as diabetes.

Diabetes is a serious illness that can cause health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in New York City .

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

People who think they might have diabetes must visit a physician for diagnosis. They might have SOME or NONE of the following symptoms:

• • Frequent urination
• • Excessive thirst
• • Unexplained weight loss
• • Extreme hunger
• • Sudden vision changes
• • Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
• • Feeling very tired much of the time
• • Very dry skin
• • Sores that are slow to heal
• • More infections than usual
• • Nausea, vomiting, or stomach pains may accompany some of these symptoms in the abrupt onset of insulin-dependent diabetes, now called type 1 diabetes.

What are the types and risk factors of diabetes? ¹

• • Type 1 diabetes was previously called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5% to 10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Risk factors are less clear for type 1 diabetes than for type 2 diabetes, but autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved in the development of this type of diabetes.
• • Type 2 diabetes was previously called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes. Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, history of diabetes during pregnancy, impaired glucose tolerance, physical inactivity, and race/ethnicity. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.
• • Gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy) develops in 2% to 5% of all pregnancies but usually disappears when a pregnancy is over. Gestational diabetes occurs more frequently in South Asians, African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and people with a family history of diabetes than in other groups. Obesity is also associated with higher risk. Women who have had gestational diabetes are at increased risk for later developing type 2 diabetes. In some studies, nearly 40% of women with a history of gestational diabetes developed diabetes in the future.

What is the treatment for diabetes?

Management strategies should be planned along with a qualified health care team ². Diabetes knowledge, treatment, and prevention strategies change often. Treatment is aimed at keeping blood sugar near normal levels at all times and controlling other risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol. Training in self-management is extremely important to the treatment of diabetes.

• • Treatment of type 1 diabetes: Lack of insulin production by the pancreas makes type 1 diabetes difficult to control. Treatment requires a strict routine that typically includes a carefully calculated diet, planned physical activity, home blood glucose testing several times a day, and multiple daily insulin injections.
• • Treatment of type 2 diabetes: Treatment typically includes diet control, exercise, home blood glucose testing, and in some cases, oral medication and/or insulin. Approximately 40% of people with type 2 diabetes require insulin injections. Oral diabetes medications and insulin are used to control blood sugar levels. However, since heart disease and stroke are much more common in people with diabetes, controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol and quitting smoking are also very important parts of diabetes treatment.

Controlling your ABCS will greatly reduce your risk of suffering complications from diabetes.

Can diabetes be prevented?

Diabetes can be prevented by making changes in your lifestyle and getting screened for diabetes or pre-diabetes. Click here to learn more how you can prevent diabetes.

¹ This information can be found in the National Diabetes Fact Sheet: National Estimates and General Information on Diabetes in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta , GA : US Department of Health and Human Services, 1997)
² The following information on treatments for diabetes is from the National Diabetes Fact Sheet: National Estimates and General Information on Diabetes in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta , GA : US Department of Health and Human Services, 1997)