medwireNews: Nearly one in 10 US adults have type 2 diabetes, and this accounts for more than nine in 10 of all diabetes cases, say researchers.
Wei Bao (University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA) and study co-authors used data from the 2016 and 2017 National Health Interview Survey, which included 58,186 adults, to calculate an overall national diabetes prevalence of 9.7%, which included a prevalence of 0.5% for type 1 diabetes and 8.5% for type 2 diabetes.
However, the researchers note in The BMJ that they could not account for undiagnosed diabetes, “and therefore the prevalence of diabetes, including both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases, would be expected to be higher than reported in this study.”
Of the people with diabetes, 5.6% had type 1 and 91.2% had type 2. These percentages differed according to people’s characteristics, whereby the proportion of people with type 1 diabetes was higher among those who were younger, of non-Hispanic White ethnicity, with a higher education level and a lower BMI.
Conversely, type 2 diabetes was more dominant among older adults, of non-Hispanic Asian ethnicity, with a lower education level and a higher BMI.
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