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Pre-Diabetes
Does pre-diabetes turn into actual diabetes?
Is pre-diabetes a major health risk?
Is pre-diabetes reversible?
Today, pre-diabetes is getting more attention from the medical community - and more concern from patients, doctors report. With roughly 47 million Americans age 40 to 74 suffering from pre-diabetes, it has become increasingly important to encourage diabetes education and awareness of the diabetic symptoms that accompany pre-diabetes.
Pre-diabetes occurs when blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Before people develop type 2 diabetes (the most common type), they almost always have pre-diabetes. This means their blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not at the level of diabetes. Long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during pre-diabetes. And while pre-diabetes is a serious medical condition, with proper changes to a healthy diabetic lifestyle, pre-diabetes can be treated and possibly even reversed.
How Does Pre-Diabetes Differ from Diabetes?
Pre-diabetes occurs when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. About 11 percent of people with pre-diabetes in the Diabetes Prevention Program standard or control group developed type 2 diabetes each year during the average 3 years of follow-up. Other studies show that most people with pre-diabetes develop type 2 diabetes in 10 years.
Your doctor will sometimes refer to pre-diabetes as Impaired Glucose Tolerance or Impaired Fasting Glucose (IGT/IFG). Pre-diabetes is a clearer way of explaining what it means to have higher than normal blood glucose levels. It means you are likely to develop diabetes and may already be experiencing the adverse health effects of this serious condition. People with pre-diabetes are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease. People with pre-diabetes have a 1.5-fold risk of cardiovascular disease compared to people with normal blood glucose. People with diabetes have a 2- to 4-fold increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
If you are overweight and age 45 or older, you should be checked for pre-diabetes during your next routine medical office visit. If your weight is normal and you're over age 45, ask your doctor if testing is appropriate. F or adults younger than 45 and overweight, your doctor may recommend testing if you have any other risk factors for diabetes or pre-diabetes. These include high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides, a family history of diabetes, a history of gestational diabetes or giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds, or belonging to an ethnic or minority group at high risk for diabetes.
Pre-Diabetes is Reversible
There are two main risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes from a pre-diabetic state, and they are things you can control:
Reduce and eliminate excessive weight
Increase your physical activity
A recently completed Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study showed that people with pre-diabetes can prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes by changing their diet and engaging in more physical activity. They may even be able to return their blood glucose levels to normal. The Diabetes Prevention Program study also showed that while some medications may delay the development of diabetes, diet and exercise work better.
Time is of the essence to reverse your pre-diabetes condition before it goes any further.
Before your next visit to one of our clinics, read more about how to live with diabetes.
Then, let our professionals help you get a handle on your diabetic condition.
