U.S. Sees Dramatic Decline In New Diabetes Cases

Published December 1, 2015 at 1:06 PM EST

New numbers released today by the Centers For Disease Control show the first significant drop in national diabetes rates after decades of alarming increase.(Pixabay)

New numbers released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the first significant drop in national diabetes rates after decades of alarming increase. The report shows 1.4 million new cases of diabetes in 2014. That’s more than 330,000 (about a fifth) fewer new cases than there were in 2008.

There’s no question that the numbers spell good news, both in terms of public health and national health care costs. But that still means that one in 10 American adults suffer from diabetes, which is the country’s leading cause of limb amputations and kidney dialysis.

Here & Now‘s Indira Lakshmanan speaks with Dr. Rita Louard, director of the Clinical Diabetes Program at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center.

Number of new diabetes cases from the CDC

Guest

Dr. Rita J. Louard, director of the Clinical Diabetes Program at Montefiore Medical Center (Moses Campus) and director of the Montefiore Diabetes Clinic.