Diabetes Epidemic Growing in NYC

By John Moreno Gonzales, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Jan. 31–More than 100,000 New Yorkers face risks of heart attacks, blindness, amputations and other medical complications from poorly controlled diabetes, according to a survey released yesterday by the New York City Health Department.

The study also found that 12.5 percent of the city’s adults have diabetes, yet a third of them do not know it.

The findings, from the city’s Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, provide the clearest picture yet of what researchers called a growing diabetes epidemic in the five boroughs. For the first time, health officials visited New Yorkers in their households to sample blood sugar levels, as opposed to using phone surveys as they had in the past. The effort showed diabetes was more prevalent among New Yorkers than previously thought.

“It’s the first time we know the true burden of diabetes among New Yorkers,” said Lorna Thorpe, the city’s deputy commissioner of health.

Phone surveys had estimated that about 9 percent of city adults had the disease, already higher than the 7.3 percent nationwide. But the in-person results revealed an additional 3.8 percent of city adults are stricken, researchers said.

Additionally, almost a quarter of New York City adults, 23.5 percent, have higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, meaning they are at risk of developing diabetes, according to the study.

The study found Asian New Yorkers have the highest rate of diabetes, at nearly 16 percent. The rates are 14.3 percent among blacks, 12.3 percent among Hispanics and 10.8 percent among whites.

Diabetes rates have doubled in the past 10 years in New York City, researchers said, numbers that closely mirror increasing obesity rates.

“New York City is getting healthier by almost all measures, but the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes are getting worse by the year,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden.

“If you have diabetes, getting your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar under control can make the difference between life and death.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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