Here's some good news for diabetics - the rate of five serious diabetes-related complications have dropped intensely since 1990, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Over the past two decades, the rates of diabetes-related health problems - heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, amputations and death - has decreased more than 60 percent. Earlier reports stated severe declines in diabetes-related kidney failure and lower-limb amputations, including amputations of the upper and lower legs, ankles, feet and toes, were also confirmed.
According to the study, between 1990 and 2010 heart disease rates have decreased nearly 70 percent in diabetics; stroke and amputation rates decreased by more than 50 percent; death from high blood sugar decreased nearly 65 percent and risk of end-stage kidney disease is down 28 percent.
Study researcher Edward Gregg, a senior epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, said in a statement that the findings "show that we have come a long way in preventing complications and improving quality of life for people with diabetes."
The decline in numbers is attributed to better screening, management of diabetes patients, medicines and care. Patients has also changed their lifestyle, such as reducing cholesterol and trans fat consumption and decreasing smoking rates.
"These results are very impressive," Dr. K. M. Venkat Narayan, professor of medicine and epidemiology at Emory University, who specializes in diabetes and was not involved in the study, said. "There is strong evidence that we're implementing better care for patients with diabetes. Awareness has increased tremendously, and there's been a great deal of emphasis on coordinated care in health care settings."
However the improvements come in as the numbers of American adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than tripled in the past two decades. According to the study authors, 6.5 million Americans had diabetes in 1990. The number had jumped to 20.7 million people by 2010.
"[Complications from diabetes] are still high, and will stay with us unless we can make substantial progress in preventing Type 2 diabetes," Gregg said.
Over a 20-year period researchers used four federal data sets - the National Health Interview Survey, the National Hospital Discharge Survey, the United States Renal Data System, and Vital Statistics to give a complete picture of the outcome.
Diabetes is a disease in which sugar builds up in the blood. According to the CDC, roughly 1 in 10 U.S. adults has the disease, and it is the nation's seventh-leading cause of death.
According to Dr. Joel Zonszein is director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, the study "shows us we have an opportunity. Good treatment can prevent diabetes complications. When we treat early and aggressively, people with diabetes, either type 1 or type 2, can do quite well."
The study is published in the issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
