Diabetes increases the risk for many serious complications, most importantly cardiovascular disease; 2 out of 3 people with diabetes die from stroke or heart disease.
With the correct treatment and diagnosis of risk, many people with diabetes are able to prevent or delay the onset of complications.
Maintaining target levels for blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol increase the chances for prevention.
The pre-diabetes condition
Before people develop type 2 diabetes, they almost always have pre-diabetes condition, blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.
According to two prospective clinical trials, the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and the Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS), prediabetics have a 30 to 35% general risk for progressing to type 2 diabetes over a 3 to 4 year period. Prediabetics whom carry an increased genetic risk to develop diabetes have up to 70% risk of converting to diabetes over the same period of time.
By knowing and understanding the genetic risk, it may be possible to take actions that reduce or minimize the likelihood of an individual developing diabetes.
