Most People With Type 2 Diabetes Aren’t Managing Their Disease

New AACE Report: 2 out of 3 patients not controlling their diabetes. “Diabetes management actually worsened in the past 10 years,” Dr. Jaime Davidson, a diabetes expert told a news conference. We all know how difficult it is to control diabetes. Now, according to recent news, two out of three Americans with diabetes don’t meet the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists’ target for blood glucose goals. There are 1.2 million new cases diagnosed each year, the association said. But the question for us is, why is this happening?

There are 1.2 million new cases diagnosed each year, the association said. "Every 25 seconds someone in the United States is diagnosed with diabetes," said Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, the U.S. Surgeon General. "It’s the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars every year."

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinologists commissioned a survey of 157,000 people with type-2, or so-called adult-onset diabetes. They looked at a blood sugar reading called A1C, and found 67 percent of the patients did not have an adequate A1C level.

"It is time for us to get serious," said Dr. Jaime A. Davidson, the chair of the AACE Diabetes Mellitus Implementation Conference and a clinical associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. "This is an epidemic in this country and it’s not going to get better unless we all work together."

The American College of Endocrinologists recommends an A1C target level of 6.5 percent or less. Every 1 percent increase above this target increases the risk of serious and possibly life-threatening, diabetes-related complications.

According to the results of the survey, 98 percent of people with type 2 diabetes believe blood glucose control is important. However, 61 percent weren’t aware of the A1C test. Even after they were told what it is, 51 percent didn’t know their last A1C result.

Surgeon-General Dr. Richard Carmona said 40 percent of Americans aged 40 to 74 now have pre-diabetes. They still have a chance to prevent diabetes itself if they begin to exercise and eat more healthily. "We must do something about this now," Carmona said.

"Every single year we add 1.2 million Americans with this problem," Davidson said. "It cost us in 2002 about $132 billion."
And drugs can help manage diabetes but cannot cure it. "Once complications have set in, you cannot magically reverse it," said Dr. Paul Jellinger, president of the American College of Endocrinologists.

To combat these problems, the AACE is launching a campaign designed to improve diabetes management. The goal is to provide people with diabetes with tools to help them control blood sugar levels and give them an easy-to-understand roadmap for successful diabetes management. The campaign will help people with type 2 diabetes understand what they can do to get their blood sugar numbers down.

As part of its program, the AACE is encouraging Americans with type 2 diabetes to take an oath to better control blood sugar levels. AACE Conference May 18, 2005

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