Diabetes Rate Up 17%; Aging of America Cited

The number of people with diabetes rose 17% in the United States from 1980 to 1987, an increase that federal health researchers attributed Thursday to the aging of America.

The largest increase was among white males, although diabetes remains most prevalent among black females, the Centers for Disease Control said in its weekly report.

In a related report by the CDC, a study of diabetes from 1988 to 1989 found that it was most prevalent in Eastern states, with the highest rate in the District of Columbia. Diabetes was least prevalent in Montana.

The 38-state study of prevalence by race and sex found that during the seven-year period, the number of white males with diabetes mellitus, the most common form of the condition, increased 33%--from 2.1 million to 2.8 million. The increase among black females was 24% and black males 16%; white females remained unchanged.

Minorities continue to be more susceptible to diabetes, the CDC reported. In 1987, for example, the prevalence among black females was more than twice that among white females--50.9 cases per 1,000 black females compared with 23.4 per 1,000 white females. Prevalence among black males was about one-third higher than for white males, the agency said.

For the nation as a whole, the CDC said, diabetes increased from 5.8 million people in 1980 to 6.8 million people in 1987.

The CDC’s estimates were based on self-reported cases, which health officials believe amount to about half the total cases. The report was based on a household survey of 120,000 U.S. residents who were asked if anyone in the family had diabetes during the previous 12 months.

“Most of it (the increase) is explained by the aging of the U.S.,” said David Olson, a statistician with the Atlanta-based CDC’s Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, which prepared the report.

“Now there’s a higher proportion of people with greater age,” Olson said. “With increased age there is a higher frequency of diabetes.”