Diabetes — Are you at risk?
9/30/2024 by Elizabeth Miles, APRN, C.N.P., M.S.
About 1 in 10 Americans, more than 38 million people, have diabetes, and 1 in 5 adults don't know they have it. If you're 65 or older, your chance of having diabetes is 29%. Most people with diabetes, 90-95%, have type 2 diabetes. This condition develops when your body doesn't use insulin well.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when your body can't make insulin and accounts for most of the remaining cases of diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes can happen for many reasons, including personal lifestyle, environmental and genetic causes. It's possible to change many of the risk factors for diabetes. These changes could delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. This prevention is why it's important to understand what contributes to the development of diabetes and know whether you have it or are at risk for it.
Prediabetes means your blood sugar is higher than average but not high enough to be diabetes. In prediabetes, your fasting blood sugar is 100-125 mg/dl, or you have a hemoglobin A1c of 5.7-6.4%. In diabetes, your fasting blood sugar is 126 mg/dl or above, or your hemoglobin A1c is 6.5% or above. One in three American adults has prediabetes, but more than 8 in 10 people don't know it. Prediabetes may progress to diabetes over time if risk factors aren't identified and addressed.
If you have prediabetes, small changes can help. Improvement in weight (losing 5 to 7% of your body weight) and being active for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, could lower your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
Lifestyle changes not only lower your risk of type 2 diabetes but can also improve your overall physical and emotional well-being.
Take a quick quiz
The American Diabetes Association has a quick quiz to help you see if you're at risk for diabetes. You can take it here and find out your score. A higher score means a higher risk of having or developing type 2 diabetes. If you score five or higher, talk to your healthcare clinician to see if you need to be screened.
There are many ways to stay healthy, like being active, keeping a healthy weight, and eating a balanced diet. Your healthcare team can help, along with community-based health programs like the Diabetes Prevention Program. Find a program near you.
Elizabeth Miles, APRN, CNP, is a family nurse practitioner in the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism, and Nutrition. She specializes in managing type 1 and type 2 diabetes and has over 15 years of experience in endocrinology. Elizabeth is an Instructor in Medicine and is the Associate Program Director for the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences Nurse Practitioner Program.