Nearly one out of three Americans has prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC, American Diabetes Association and American Medical Association launched a national prediabetes awareness campaign this week.
The initiative encourages people to take a short online test in order to determine how at-risk they might be.
“The current prevalence is 7.8 percent,” said Omar Contreras, diabetes prevention and control program manager for the Arizona Department of Health Services. “That equates to about 500,000 Arizonans who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes or that have prediabetes.”
The risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases when people aren’t aware they have prediabetes, he said. People with prediabetes have higher than average blood sugar and often have no symptoms.