For The Lawndale News
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Medical Association (AMA) are on a mission to prevent type 2 diabetes in patients who are at risk of developing the chronic condition, MegPage Today reports.
Their new joint initiative is called Prevent Diabetes STAT—short for Screen, Test, Act, Today—and targets physicians, community organizations and health insurers to help raise awareness about prediabetes. The campaign aims to convince patients to make the lifestyle changes necessary to avoid type 2 diabetes, the most common version of the disease.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body develops a resistance to insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Without intervention, studies show that people with prediabetes are likely to become diabetic within ten years.
The program aims to “shine a light on prediabetes as a major concern,” said Ann Albright, RD, PhD, director of the Division of Diabetes Translation at the CDC. “It’s a model that is proven to prevent diabetes,” she added.
The CDC-AMA campaign includes a new website and online toolkit designed for health care workers and will launch in Venice and St. Petersburg, Forida; Wilmington, Delaware; Indianapolis; and Minneapolis. The initiative will also encourage commercial insurance groups across the country to increase their coverage for diabetes prevention programs. Today, researchers estimate more than 86 million Americans live with prediabetes and that nearly 90 percent of them are unaware they have the illness.
