State health dept. encourages people to test for prediabetes
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Prediabetes is an issue that 86 million American adults face each day.
Those with the early onset of the disease may feel just fine but the CDC states that nine out of 10 people who have prediabetes do not know it.
“The best way to find out if they are in that category for being at risk or prediabetes is to get a blood sugar test, normally called either a fasting blood sugar test a Hemaglobin A1C test,” said Laura Heinrich with the Indiana State Department of Health.
Prediabetes is the in-between stage where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed at diabetes.
People with prediabetes are at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
Once diagnosed with the disease, it can be managed but will never go away.
“A lot of people do not know that they are at risk and they have prediabetes. It is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 35 percent of the people living in Indiana and across the nation are at risk for diabetes,” Heinrich added.
The Indiana Department of Health says within the next five years, 15 to 30 percent of people with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes.
Risk factors for developing diabetes include age, being overweight or obese, or family history with the disease.
Those who feel they may be at risk can take the CDC’s Prediabetes Screening Test or American Diabetes Association’s Risk Test.