Prediabetes… A Call To Action!

(This is the second in a series of articles about diabetes.)

Whether you have prediabetes or diabetes, you can reduce the risk of progression of this chronic disease. Some people believe that prediabetes is not diabetes, but prediabetes indicates that the blood sugar is out of the normal range. Prediabetes is defined as a fasting blood sugar between 100 and 125 or an A1c (average glucose over 60 -90 days) between 5.7% and 6.4%. Diabetes is defined as a fasting blood sugar greater than 126 and an A1c greater than or equal to 6.5%.

Without intervention, people with prediabetes have a 50% chance of developing type 2 diabetes within 10 years.1 The good news is that 50% will NOT develop type 2 diabetes! However, it is hard to predict which individuals with prediabetes will progress to diabetes, so intervention at the time of this diagnosis is very important.

Intervention can be as simple as making some lifestyle changes. Changes can include eating a healthy diet, increasing activity, sleeping seven to nine hours each night and maintaining an appropriate weight for height. These changes can translate into a reduction in A1c by one to two percent and reduce the risk of the progression to diabetes by up to 58%.2 This is a greater benefit than some diabetes medications alone are able to provide.

For people already diagnosed with diabetes, an increase in blood sugar (and A1c) can increase the risk for complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke. In addition, poorly controlled diabetes is the number one reason for below- the- knee amputations.

It’s important to remember that when you lose as little as five to seven percent of your current weight, you can lower your blood sugar and reduce risks significantly.

A Medicare beneficiary with prediabetes who recently participated in Diabetes Self-Management Education classes, reported that modifying her lifestyles allowed her to lose 17 pounds and to reduce her A1C. Her blood sugars have been lowered and she is well on her way to delaying the progression of the diabetes!!

Free Diabetes Self-Management Education is provided by The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME). These workshops feature a series of five classes, each of which focuses on a different topic related to diabetes. Even if you have previously attended a Medicare- reimbursed class, you are invited to attend these workshops at no cost.

For more information and to locate a workshop near you, please call the CCME SC Diabetes Self-Management Hotline at: 1-800-922-3089, extension 7585

This material was prepared by the Atlantic Quality Innovation Network (AQIN), the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for New York State, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents do not necessarily reflect CMS policy.

References:
1. http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2014/mar/how-quickly-does-type-2.htmlDiabetes Care 2002

2. Diabetes Care. 2002. Dec; 25(12): 2165-2171. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/diacare.25.12.2165