While the death rate and incidence of most cancers and of heart disease have been on the decrease, deaths from diabetes have increased 30 percent over the past 20 years. Kahn cites an aging population, soaring rates of obesity, sedentary lifestyles, a growth of minority populations, and inadequate treatment as main reasons. More people are living longer and gaining more weight. About half of all Americans are overweight and one-third are obese. Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians experience higher rates of diabetes and its complications, such as blindness and kidney failure, than whites.
Nobody knows why.
Life expectancy for diabetics averages 10 to 15 years less than for the general population. There are two forms of the disease, both growing at a rate of between 700,000 and 750,000 new cases a year. Type 1, or insulin dependent diabetes, is purely genetic and commonly appears suddenly between ages 10 and 16. New cases have tripled in the United States in the past 50 years. Type 2, or non-insulin dependent diabetes, usually occurs gradually in people older than 40.