Based on data from 2007, CDC said the number is roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population and represents an increase of about 3 million over two years.
The number of people who have the disease but don't know they have the disease has decreased from 30 percent to 25 percent, meaning more people are aware of the disease and getting tested. A pre-diabetes condition includes sugar abnormalities that put people at increased risk for the disease.
Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the U.S. and can lead to heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputation, according to the National Institutes of Health. Most people with diabetes have resistance to insulin, which the body uses to convert blood sugar to energy.
The disease results from defects in insulin production that causes sugar to build up in the body. Among adults, diabetes increased in both men and women and in all age groups, but the worst affected group is the elderly. Almost 25 percent of the population 60 years and older had diabetes in 2007, CDC said.
The disease was also most prevalent among American Indians and Alaska Natives (16.5 percent). This was followed by blacks (11.8 percent) and Hispanics (10.4 percent), which includes rates for Puerto Ricans (12.6 percent), Mexican Americans (11.9 percent), and Cubans (8.2 percent).
