
Type 2 diabetes increased by nearly 20% in the United States between 2012 and 2022, with age, race, income level, obesity and lack of exercise all playing a role in the metabolic disease’s spread, a new study reports. “Diabetes is increasing day by day in the U.S., and it will increase even more in the coming years,” said lead researcher Sulakshan Neupane, a doctoral student with the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Diabetes costs around $412 billion, including medical costs and indirect costs like loss of productivity,” Neupane added in a university news release. “That’s a huge amount, and it’s only going to increase as more people are diagnosed.” Age is a major factor, with middle-aged people and seniors carrying a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers found. Seniors aged 65 and older were more than 10 times as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as people ages 18 to 24, results show. Middle-aged folks 45 to 64 were more than five times as likely to get such a diagnosis. Income and education also played a role. People with high incomes were 41% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, and the college-educated were 24% less likely. Black people were the racial and ethnic group hardest hit by diabetes, with just under 16% diagnosed with the disease, researchers said. The… read on > read on >