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Pre-Diabetes, a Condition that Raises the Risk of Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke E-mail
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Pre-diabetes is a condition that raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Some people with pre-diabetes have blood glucose levels higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.

People with pre-diabetes have impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Some people have both IFG and IGT.

  • IFG is a condition in which the fasting blood glucose level is 100 to 125 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) after an overnight fast. The level is higher than normal but is not high enough to be classified as diabetes.
  • IGT is a condition in which the blood glucose level is 140 to 199 mg/dL after a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test. This level is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.

Statistics

Estimates from 1999–2002 indicate that, among U.S. adults age 20 years and older, 26 percent had IFG.

Applying this percentage to the entire U.S. population, 54 million American adults had IFG in 2002. Because IGT was not measured in 1999–2002, these data suggest that at least 54 million American adults had pre-diabetes in 2002.

Risk Factors

You are at greater risk of developing pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes if you:

  • are age 45 or older
  • are members of a high-risk ethnic population (e.g., African American, Hispanic/Latino American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian American, Pacific Islander)
  • have a family history of diabetes
  • are overweight
  • have an inactive lifestyle (exercise less than three times a week)
  • have high blood pressure: 140/90 mm/Hg or higher
  • have an HDL cholesterol less than 35 mg/dL or a triglyceride level 250 mg/dL or higher
  • have had diabetes that developed during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) or have given birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds
  • have polycystic ovary syndrome, a metabolic disorder that affects the female reproductive system
  • have acanthosis nigricans (dark, thickened skin around neck or armpits)
  • have a history of disease of the blood vessels to the heart, brain, or
  • have had IFG or IGT on previous testing.
Symptoms

Pre-diabetes, which usually causes no symptoms, is serious because many people with the condition develop type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years. Also, pre-diabetes substantially raises the risk of a heart attack or stroke even if type 2 diabetes does not develop.

Prognosis

Progression to diabetes among those with pre-diabetes is not inevitable. Studies have shown that people with pre-diabetes who lose weight and increase their physical activity (for example, walking 30 minutes a day 5 days a week) can prevent or delay diabetes and even return their blood glucose levels to normal. A major study of people with IGT has shown that lifestyle changes leading to a 5 to 7 percent weight loss lowered diabetes onset by 58 percent.

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