Diabetes is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the United States—and studies show that deaths related to diabetes may be under-reported! Today, 1 in 10 U.S. adults has diabetes, and if trends continue, 1 in 5 will have it by 2025.
An additional 86 million U.S. adults—1 in 3—have prediabetes, which means their blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. Without intervention, many people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years, which puts them at risk of serious health problems, including:
Heart attack
Stroke
Blindness
Kidney failure
Loss of toes, feet, or legs
Having prediabetes means your blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal—but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. Prediabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Prediabetes can often be reversed.
With type 2 diabetes, your body cannot properly use insulin (a hormone that helps glucose get into the cells of the body). You can get type 2 diabetes at any age, but you are at higher risk if you are older, overweight, have a family history of diabetes, are not physically active, or are a woman who had gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is a kind of diabetes that some women get when they are pregnant. Even if a woman’s blood sugar levels go down after her baby is born, she is at higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes later in life.
With type 1 diabetes, your body cannot make insulin, so you need to take insulin every day. Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2 diabetes; about 5% of the people who have diabetes have type 1. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Check out our Infographics.
To learn more about the basics of diabetes and prediabetes, visit CDC’s Diabetes website.
If you have the following risk factors, you may be at higher risk than others for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
- You are overweight.
- You are 45 years of age or older.
- Your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes.
- You are physically active fewer than 3 times per week.
- You ever gave birth to a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds.
- You ever had diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes).
Race and ethnicity also affect your risk. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and some Asian Americans are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.
Find out if you are at risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Take our online quiz or print off a prediabetes screening test[PDF-757KB].
If you are at risk, talk to a healthcare professional about getting a blood sugar test.
Don’t let the “pre” in prediabetes fool you into thinking it’s not really a problem now. You can take action right away to help prevent prediabetes from becoming type 2 diabetes. You can also reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke associated with prediabetes.
Many people with prediabetes who do not change their lifestyle—by losing weight (if needed) and being more physically active—will develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years. Type 2 diabetes can lead to serious health issues such as:
Heart attack
Stroke
Blindness
Kidney failure
Loss of toes, feet, or legs
In addition, some of the risk factors for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes—like being overweight and not being physically active—can make you feel sluggish and affect your mood. Positive lifestyle changes not only lower your risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, they can improve your overall well-being and the well-being of your family.