Type 2 Diabetes Complications Witness Steep Decline Over the Last 20 Years

What begins as someone being overweight eventually progresses to obesity, then type 2 diabetes, and finally heart disease. This is not the absolute state of events, but it's very common, and medical experts have been working to eliminate the progression.

A new study released on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed declining rates of serious type 2 diabetes-related health problems, including heart attacks, death from high blood sugar, stroke, limb amputations, and end-stage kidney failure.

However, over the course of the study from 1990-2010, the rate of Americans with diabetes more than tripled, reaching nearly 26 million, and 79 million have pre-diabetes (a high risk of developing type 2). The researchers found that the disease, coupled with the complications that arise from it, account for $176 billion in annual medical costs.

Nonetheless, heart attacks and death from high blood sugar decreased by 60%; stroke and lower-limb amputations decreased by 50%; and end-stage kidney failure declined by about 28%. Although many more people have type 2 diabetes since the study began, the study's findings show how medical advancements improved the lives of those with the disease.

"There is strong evidence that we're implementing better care for patients with diabetes," said Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan of Emory University, in this New York Times article. "Awareness has increased tremendously, and there's been a great deal of emphasis on coordinated care in health care settings."

The only statistics the study withheld were the rates for blindness and low blood sugar because information on those two complications was lacking over the time period examined. The researchers were also unable to distinguish complications as a result of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Despite these shortcomings, this will be the most comprehensive study of diabetes yet.

The CDC results will be published tomorrow (April 17) in the New England Journal of Medicine. You can read more about it in this Live Science article.