Table of Contents Introduction What Is Diabetes Mellitus? What Are the Types of Diabetes? Diagnosing Diabetes Forms of Prediabetes Scope and Impact of Diabetes Who Gets Diabetes? Information on Diabetes Treatment Information on Diabetes Research Keeping on Top of Your Condition

Who Gets Diabetes?

Diabetes is not contagious. People cannot "catch" it from each other. However, certain factors can increase the risk of developing diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes occurs equally among males and females, but is more common in whites than in nonwhites. Data from the World Health Organization's Multinational Project for Childhood Diabetes indicate that type 1 diabetes is rare in most African, American Indian, and Asian populations. However, some northern European countries, including Finland and Sweden, have high rates of type 1 diabetes. The reasons for these differences are not known.

Type 2 diabetes is more common in older people, especially in people who are overweight, and occurs more often in African Americans, American Indians, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, and Hispanic Americans. On average, non-Hispanic African Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of the same age. Hispanic Americans are nearly twice as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. American Indians have the highest rates of diabetes in the world. Among the Pima Indians living in Arizona, for example, half of all adults have type 2 diabetes. On average, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.6 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. Although prevalence data for diabetes among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is limited, some groups, such as Native Hawaiians, are 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes as white residents of Hawaii.

The prevalence of diabetes in the United States is likely to increase for several reasons. First, a large segment of the population is aging. Also, Hispanic Americans and other minority groups make up the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. Finally, Americans are increasingly overweight and sedentary. According to recent estimates, the prevalence of diabetes in the United States is predicted to be 8.9 percent of the population by 2025.