Prevalence and Costs of Diabetes Skyrocket.

• Position: MEDICINE & HEALTH - Brief article

The prevalence of diabetes jumped from 10.6% in 2008 to 11.5% in 2017, an increase which has had a direct impact on health-care costs and outcomes, relates research from the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index.

If the diabetes rate had remained at its 2008 level, about 2,300,000 fewer U.S. adults would have the disease today, and health-care costs due to diabetes would be an estimated $19,200,000,000 less than current levels. Costs to employers are significant, with more than $20,000,-000,000 annually in lost productivity, stemming from 57,000,000 additional unplanned missed workdays by employees with diabetes.

Those communities with the highest prevalence of diabetes have residents with greater disease burdens, including elevated obesity rates, heart disease, diagnosed depression, and physical pain. The higher-prevalence communities also have fewer residents who exhibit healthy behaviors --a lower percentage of residents exercise regularly, fewer eat healthy, and more smoke.

By contrast, communities with low diabetes rates...