More than 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has released “The National Diabetes Statistics Report,” which finds that an estimated 30.3 million people of all ages—or 9.4% of the U.S. population—had diabetes in 2015. This total included 30.2 million adults aged 18 years or older (12.2% of all U.S. adults), of which 7.2 million (23.8%) were not aware of or did not report having diabetes.

According to the report, the percentage of U.S. adults with diabetes increased with age, reaching a high of 25.2% among those aged 65 years and older. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, the age-adjusted prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes was higher among Asians, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics during 2011–2014. In addition, prevalence varied significantly by education level, which is an indicator of socioeconomic status. Specifically, 12.6% of adults with less than a high school education had diagnosed diabetes versus 9.5% of those with a high school education and 7.2% of those with more than a high school education.

The CDC also found that an estimated 33.9% of U.S. adults aged 18 years or older (84.1 million people) had prediabetes in 2015, based on their fasting glucose or A1C level. Nearly half (48.3%) of adults aged 65 years or older had prediabetes. Among adults with prediabetes, 11.6% reported being told by a health professional that they had this condition. Age-adjusted data for 2011–2014 indicated that more men (36.6%) than women (29.3%) had prediabetes.

Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2015. This finding is based on 79,535 death certificates in which diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of death.

Report (pdf)