CDC reports number of diabetes cases in U.S. is at 24 million

ATLANTA The number of people in the United States with diabetes increased by 3 million in 2007 over the previous two years, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease now affects 24 million people, in addition to the 57 million at high risk of contracting it because of pre-diabetes. At the same time, the number of people who don’t know they have it decreased by 5 percent.

Diabetes results from high levels of blood glucose stemming from insufficient insulin production and is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. Complications that can result from the disease include heard disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputations of the legs.