Diabetes shows dramatic rise in the US

The number of adults in the US being treated for diabetes more than doubled between 1996 and 2007, according to a new federal government report, with over 95 per cent of cases being of type 2 diabetes .
The report, by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, found that the amount of diabetic adults increased from about 9 million to 19 million during that period, with the 65 and over age group seeing a rise from 4.3 million to 8 million, while adults aged between 45 and 64 saw a rise from 3.6 million to 8.9 million, and for people between 18 and 44 there was a rise from 1.2 million to 2.4 million people.
The amount of overweight or obese adults in the US is seen as the main contributory factor for this surge, as this has also risen dramatically.
There are also concerns about the cost of healthcare to deal with the problem, as the report revealed that the total treatment costs for diabetes rose from USD18.5 billion to almost USD41 billion over that period, and that the cost of outpatient care for diabetic adults doubled from around USD5 billion to USD10 billion over the 11 years specified.
Another worrying area is the rise on costs of prescription drugs for adult diabetics, which increased from USD4 billion to USD19 billion at the same time.