Senator Boxer: November is American Diabetes Month   

Thursday, November 19, 2009  

Dear Friend:

November is American Diabetes Month, a time to learn more about this serious disease, including ways to avoid it.  Today, many health experts say that we are experiencing a diabetes epidemic, with nearly 24 million adults and children living with diabetes in the United States.  Another 57 million have pre-diabetes symptoms and are at risk of developing diabetes.

Diabetes is a serious disease that leads to potentially life-threatening complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation.  Every day, 4,100 people are diagnosed with diabetes and 613 people die because of it.  If this epidemic is not stopped, a third of all children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their lifetime.  Among Latinos and African American children, the rate is nearly one in two.

This disease takes a severe toll not only on individual and public health but also on the health of our economy.  In 2007, diabetes cost the United States $174 billion dollars in direct and indirect costs.

You can learn more about diabetes by visiting the American Diabetes Association website at http://www.diabetes.org I also encourage you to talk frankly with your doctor about diabetes, your risks for developing it, ways to avoid it, and whether or not you should be tested for it.

This November, make sure you learn the basics about diabetes for yourself and for your family.  

Sincerely,