Diabetes rates continue to soar

Close to half (40%) of the U.S. adult population — roughly 126 million — is expected to develop Type 2 diabetes at some point during their lifetime, according to a study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology in August.

That is a massive change from 30 years ago, when the number of Americans expected to develop diabetes was around 25%.



The future bodes even worse for some ethnic minority groups, with 1-in-2 Hispanic men and women and non-Hispanic black women predicted to develop the disease.



According to the CDC, the number of people in the United States diagnosed with diabetes today stands at roughly 21 million. The number of people who have diabetes but have yet to be diagnosed is 8.1 million. The CDC estimates 37% of U.S. adults ages 20 years and older had prediabetes between 2009 and 2012, which would bring the total of Americans likely to develop diabetes in the near future to 86 million.



In this exclusive report, DSN looks at how suppliers and technology retailers are battling the diabetes epidemic.