In this connected day and age, everyone reading this knows about the epidemic of Diabetes worldwide. November is American Diabetes Month and I wanted to bring additional awareness because the statistics from the CDC in the US alone are stunning…
9.3% of the US population has diabetes and over 1/4 of those are undiagnosed cases
28% of the US population is pre-diabetic with a strong likelihood of progression
The projected statistics suggest that this epidemic of diagnosed Diabetes may reach 25% by 2050
The total cost of Diabetes to our economy and health care system in 2012 was $245 billion (yes that is in billions, with a B!)
In addition to health risks like kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, and amputations; Diabetes is also the number one cause of new blindness in the United States.
Even more concerning to eye care providers is that the incidence of ocular changes in Diabetic patients has increased by 90% in the past 1o years. This percentage outpaces even that of new diabetic diagnoses and suggests that the blindness rates from Diabetic complications will only continue to rise…
While these are grim statistics, there is a substantial silver lining. While the rates of blindness and eye complications have risen, eye care has also evolved greatly with better ocular testing equipment and vastly improved treatments for diabetic complications of the eye. The key to preserving vision is earlier diagnosis of eye problems, close monitoring, and better patient understanding of what eye problems can occur and lead to blindness.
If you or a loved one has Diabetes it is absolutely imperative that you receive yearly dilated eye exams with an eye care provider. Schedule your exam today!!
For a far more thorough discussion on the eye complications that can arise from Diabetes please visit our webpage on Diabetic Eye Disease.
Please take care of those eyeballs!
– Dr. Wolf