State health officials say the number of Iowans with diabetes is climbing. Lorene Hinderks is coordinator for the Iowa Diabetes Prevention and Control Program for the Iowa Department of Public Health. Hinderks says the latest rise in cases is startling.
She says there are about 160,000 adults in Iowa with diabetes, of both types one and two. That’s more than 5% of the state’s population. Potential risk factors include being overweight and having a family history of diabetes, while ethnicity and age also play a role.
Hinderks says Iowans who may be at risk need to be educated about diabetes and the other dangers it can bring. “There’s a lot of things associated with diabetes, such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputation,” she says. “It’s very serious but there are ways to manage the disease and we like to create awareness of that, too.”
Hinderks gives some examples of how Iowans who have diabetes are dealing with it. “There’s healthy eating habits, physical activity that’s appropriate, there’s medications, there’s self-management education.”
Hinderks says there’s plenty of information about diabetes at the website: www.diabetes.org
Thanks to Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City