What is diabetes? Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which the body either does not produce insulin or does not use insulin effectively. Insulin is a hormone, produced by the pancreas, that helps the body use glucose, a sugar that is the main energy source for the body.

When insulin is absent or ineffective, the level of glucose increases in the blood. High blood glucose levels can lead to both short-term and long-term health-related complications.

What are the major types of diabetes? There are two major types of diabetes mellitus in the United States: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM, also called type I) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, also called type II).

Another type of diabetes is gestational diabetes.

This is a condition in some pregnant women characterised by glucose intolerance that has its first recognition during pregnancy. In most cases, blood glucose levels return to normal after the pregnancy.

How is diabetes treated? Diabetes therapy is intended to maintain blood glucose at near-normal levels, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes complications. For IDDM, treatment consists of insulin injections and diet/exercise therapy.

For NIDDM, treatment may include insulin injections or oral agents to lower blood glucose, diet therapy, a weight-reduction programme for patients who are overweight, and a pro gram of exercise.

Nearly 43% of adults with diabetes use insulin, and a similar proportion use oral medications. Monitoring of blood glucose - by both the person with diabetes and the physician - is an important part of the care of both forms of diabetes.

How many people in the United States have diabetes? Counting both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, as many as 16 million people, or about 6% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. Although this estimate is for diabetes of all types, 90-95% of people older than age 20 with diabetes have NIDDM.

The estimated prevalence of IDDM in all ages in 1990 was 302,613; one study in 1993 put this figure at nearly 675,000.

How many children in the United States have diabetes? There are about 127,000 children (younger than age 20) with IDDM in the United States. Peak incidence is around 10-12 yeas old in girls and 12-14 years old in boys.

Who is most likely to have diabetes? Diabetes prevalence increases with increasing age. Nearly 11% of the U.S.

population age 65 to 74 has diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes tends to be slightly higher in women than in men. About half of all new cases of diabetes each year occur in people older than age 55.

Does diabetes occur more frequently in minorities? Yes. NIDDM tends to be more common in minority populations than in whites.

Overall, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in people age 45-74 is 5.9% in non-Hispanic whites and in Cuban Americans. 10.1% in non-Hispanic African Americans, and 14.3% in Mexican Americans and in Puerto Rican Americans.

The highest known prevalence of diabetes in the world is found in the Pima Indians of Arizona. About half of this population between age 30 and 64 has diabetes.