Prediabetes means your blood glucose (sugar) is higher than normal, but not yet diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease that can cause heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, or loss of feet or legs. Type 2 diabetes can be delayed or prevented in people with prediabetes through effective lifestyle programs. Take the first step. Find out your risk for prediabetes by performing CDC’s new prediabetes test.
Prediabetes
Learn more
Serious & Common
More than 84 million US adults—that’s 1 in 3—have prediabetes. With prediabetes, blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as diabetes. People with prediabetes are at high risk for type 2 diabetes (the most common type of diabetes), heart disease, and stroke.
In the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than tripled as the US population has aged and become more overweight. Now more than 30 million Americans have diabetes, which increases their risk for a long list of serious health problems, including:
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Blindness
- Kidney failure
- Loss of toes, feet, or legs
The good news: the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program’s lifestyle change program can help people with prediabetes prevent or delay type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems and improve their overall health. It’s scientifically proven, and it works.
Diabetes Is Expensive
Diabetes has an enormous economic impact on millions of individuals and their families, on workplaces, and on the US health care system.
- In 2017, the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes was $327 billion ($237 billion in direct medical costs and $90 billion in lost productivity), up 26% over a 5-year period.
- About 1 in 4 health care dollars is spent on people with diagnosed diabetes.
- Medical expenses for people diagnosed with diabetes—$16,750 annually on average—are about 2.3 times higher than for people without diabetes.
The Time To Act Is Now
Don’t let the “pre” in prediabetes fool you—prediabetes is a serious health condition that can develop into even more serious health conditions.
Take our prediabetes test now. If your results show you’re at risk, talk to your doctor about getting a simple blood sugar test to confirm your results. The sooner you find out you have prediabetes, the sooner you can take action to prevent type 2 diabetes.
How To Get Started
If you find out you have prediabetes, ask your doctor to refer you to a CDC-recognized lifestyle change program. Through the program, you’ll take small, manageable steps that add up to lasting lifestyle changes to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
Ready to make a change? Learn more about the lifestyle change program, and go Find a Program to get started today!
