One in three Hoosiers are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. They encourage residents to take a prediabetes risk assessment.
Officials say people with predaibetes have blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but aren’t high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Nationwide an estimated 86 million adults have prediabetes, including one-third of Indiana adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 90 percent of those individuals do not know their status.
Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams says diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Indiana. He adds many of those cases are preventable if the disease is diagnosed before it progresses.
Risk factors for developing diabetes include being overweight or obese, having a family history of diabetes and being physically inactive.
Individuals with prediabetes can lower their risk of developing the disease by maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, becoming more physically active, seeing a physician and checking blood glucose levels regularly and joining a Diabetes Prevention Program.
Visit www.preventdiabetes.isdh.in.gov to take a free online diabetes risk assessment or find a Diabetes Prevention Program.
