Diabetes rates may be plateauing, research suggests

While diabetes rates in the U.S. appeared to double from 1990 to 2008, new research suggests they leveled off in adults between 2008 and 2012.

The study, which was published in JAMA, suggests that very little research has covered long-term trends of the disease in the U.S.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data on 664,969 adults between the ages of 20 and 79 for the study. The goal was to determine the annual percentage change in rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes prevalence.

"Incidence and prevalence of diabetes ceased growing or leveled off in many population subgroups," a press release on the study stated. "However, incidence continued to increase in Hispanic and non-Hispanic black adults and prevalence continued to grow among those with a high school education or less."

Declining obesity might explain trend

One reason for the slowed increase in diabetes might be due to the declining obesity rate, as obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

However, the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities that were witnessed in the study when it comes to diabetes prevalence need to be addressed, the researchers urged.

"In light of the well-known excess risk of amputation, blindness, end-stage renal disease, disability, mortality, and health care costs associated with diabetes, the doubling of diabetes incidence and prevalence ensures that diabetes will remain a major public health problem that demands effective prevention and management programs," the authors wrote.

Source: JAMA