Introduction

Diabetes in older adults is a serious problem -- one out of five people (18.3 percent) ages 60 and older have diabetes¹ and two out of five people (40.1 percent) ages 40 to 74 have prediabetes², a condition that can lead to diabetes. Current thinking in diabetes research is that being overweight significantly contributes to the high rates of diabetes in the United States. Among older adults, one out of five people (nearly 40 percent) over age 50 is severely overweight (obese), and nearly one out of four people (about 23-24 percent) ages 51 and older are overweight)³ -- the numbers are very similar to the rates of diabetes and prediabetes for roughly the same age group.

National experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health do not believe that this is a coincidence - they recommend that all overweight people ages 45 and older get tested for diabetes.⁴ Older people who are overweight are also less likely to be physically active and more likely to suffer from other conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart problems, and joint problems. Communities of color in particular experience higher rates of diabetes, and often higher rates of overweight than whites on average.

This chapter outlines the key concepts needed to understand how diabetes affects older adults: its effect on the body, special concerns related to older adults and diabetes, and diabetes and specific groups of older adults. The chapter also presents information on prediabetes, a condition that can be treated relatively easily, and how to prevent or delay diabetes among people who have prediabetes.

¹ CDC. (2004) "National Diabetes Statistics Fact Sheet: General Information and National Estimates on Diabetes in the United States, 2003," rev. ed. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available on the World Wide Web: www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/factsheets.htm.

² Ibid.

³ Center on an Aging Society, Georgetown University. (July 2003) Obesity Among Older Americans. Data profile: No.10. Monograph. Available at Georgetown University on the World Wide Web: ihcrp.georgetown.edu/agingsociety/pubhtml/obesity2/obesity2.html.

⁴ National Diabetes Education Program. (April 2004) Guiding Principles for Diabetes Care: For Health Care Providers. NIH Publication No. 99-4343.