> Almost 21 million Americans have diabetes, including as many as six million individuals who have diabetes and don’t know it.
> Diabetes kills more people than AIDS and breast cancer combined.
> In 2007, diabetes claimed more than 284,000 American lives.
> Diabetes costs the American people more than $174 billion each year; 1 out of every 5 health care dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes.
> Diabetes impacts all social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.
> Diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to create or effectively use its own insulin, which is produced by islet cells found in the pancreas.
> Insulin helps regulate blood sugar (glucose) levels – providing energy to body cells and tissues.
> Without insulin, the body’s cells would be starved, causing dehydration and destruction of body tissue.
> Injecting insulin is not a cure for diabetes. It is a critical life-saving component of a daily treatment program.
> Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death among adults by disease and reduces life expectancy by one-third.
> Approximately 4,110 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each day.
> Almost three million Americans are hospitalized each year due to diabetes.
> Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness in adults ages 20-74.
> Sixty-five percent of deaths among people with diabetes are due to heart disease and stroke.
Persons with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop heart disease than people without diabetes.
> More than 60 percent of all nontraumatic amputations occur among people with diabetes.
> Nearly 44 percent of all kidney failure is caused by diabetes. Diabetic patients are 17 times more prone to kidney disease than people who do not have the disease.
> Diabetes is also the leading cause of end stage renal disease.
> Women with diabetes face high-risk pregnancies, which can result in babies born with many health problems.
(Source: Centers for Disease Control; National Institutes of Health; American Diabetes Association)