SANTA FE, NM – The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) joins the American Diabetes Association in recognizing Tuesday, March 28 as “Diabetes Alert Day”, to raise awareness about the disease and to encourage New Mexicans to take the Diabetes Risk Test to find out if they are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
NMDOH estimates more than 230,000 New Mexican adults have diabetes, and that one in five is not aware of the condition. Additionally, an estimated 620,000 New Mexico adults have prediabetes, a condition that precedes type 2 diabetes in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal. Unfortunately, four out of five persons with prediabetes are unaware of their condition.
The New Mexico Department of Health encourages New Mexicans to access the Diabetes Risk Test through the Department Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nmdoh
“Early diagnosis is critical to successful treatment and delaying or preventing some of its complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, stroke, amputation and death,” said Department of Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher. “Diabetes Alert Day serves as a wake-up call to the dangers of diabetes, and emphasizes the importance of being screened for pre-diabetes and diabetes, and to treat it.”
Higher body weight increases risk for type 2 diabetes for everyone. So does increasing age, especially after turning the age of 40. Type 2 diabetes is more common in African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Women who have had gestational diabetes during pregnancy are also at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
For more information on diabetes, log onto the Department of Health’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program website at www.diabetesnm.org or call (505) 850-0176.