Announcement: Diabetes Alert Day — March 22, 2016

Weekly / March 18, 2016 / 65(10);269

March 22 is Diabetes Alert Day, dedicated to raising awareness about type 2 diabetes, its risk factors, and its prevention. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90%–95% of all cases of diagnosed diabetes in U.S. adults, might be prevented through lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and increasing physical activity (1,2). In the United States, 86 million adults have prediabetes, putting them at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Only 10% of adults with prediabetes know they have it (1,3).

In partnership with the Ad Council, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Medical Association, CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation developed and launched the first national prediabetes awareness campaign to encourage people to take steps to prevent type 2 diabetes. The website DoIHavePrediabetes.org (https://doihaveprediabetes.org ) features a short test for people to find out their prediabetes risk and includes lifestyle tips and links to CDC-recognized prevention programs across the country that are part of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/index.html). The U.S. Diabetes Surveillance System includes an updated Diabetes State Atlas (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data) that allows users to view data and trends on any mobile device. In addition to containing the latest state-level data, the atlas now presents estimates of the percentage of adults without diagnosed diabetes who report having had a test for diabetes or high blood glucose in the past 3 years. Additional information about diabetes prevention and control is available from CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes).

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References

CDC. National diabetes statistics report: estimates of diabetes and its burden in the United States, 2014. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2014.
Knowler WC, Barrett-Connor E, Fowler SE, et al. ; Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med 2002;346:393–403. CrossRef PubMed
Li YF, Geiss LS, Burrows NR, Rolka DB, Albright A. Awareness of prediabetes—United States, 2005–2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2013;62:209–12. PubMed

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Suggested citation for this article: Announcement. Diabetes Alert Day — March 22, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:269. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6510a4 .