7/10/2012 0 Comments Victor L. Roberts, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Discusses the Increase in the Incidence and Prevalence of Diabetes MellitusBased in Florida, Dr. Victor Lawrence Roberts has served as an endocrinologist for more than 27 years. A member of the American Diabetes Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the Endocrine Society, Dr. Roberts treats patients with diabetes, metabolic disorders, lipid abnormalities, osteoporosis, thyroid conditions, and pituitary dysfunction.
Diabetes affects an increasing number of Americans every year. In the United States, almost 26 million individuals have the disease in 2011, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Worldwide, this number is an astounding 390,000,000 people. The CDC attributes this increase to several factors: 1. A new test facilitates diagnoses. Medical professionals have just begun utilizing hemoglobin A1c as a marker. The gauge measures blood glucose levels across several months. 2. An increase in patients with the disease (increased incidence and prevalence), corresponding to the epidemic of obesity. 3. Longer lifespans for people with diabetes. With improved care, individuals with diabetes now can manage their disease and live longer. Related complications, such as neuropathy, retinopathy, and nephropathy, are all potentially preventable and certainly treatable. In Florida, physicians have diagnosed nearly 10 percent of the adult population with the condition. Of those, nearly half have not learned how to manage the disease. There is a disproportionate number of patients diagnosed with diabetes (usually DM2) in the African-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American, and Asian-American populations. Although DM2 affects the majority of the diabetic population, DM1, formerly referred to as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, continues to be a major health care challenge. Currently, a child born in 2012 has a 1 in 3 chance of becoming diabetic by 2050. Vigilance in identifying people at risk for diabetes must be part of our health care delivery system, with the hope of prevention and optimal care for those suffering from the disease.
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