Nearly Every State Seeing Large Surge in Diabetes

The number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. jumped by 50% or more in 42 states and by more than 100% in 18 of those states in just under two decades, according to the latest snapshot from the CDC. 

The new data set looked at rates of diabetes in the U.S. from 1995 and 2010. The findings appear in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

In 2010, more than 18.8 million people in the U.S. were estimated to have diabetes, and about 7 million more were estimated to have undetected diabetes. These rates have been on the rise since 1990 across the board.

The states with the greatest spikes in diagnosed diabetes included:

What is driving this? "Risk factors for diabetes, including [inactive] lifestyle and obesity, are some of the major reasons for the increase," says researcher Linda Geiss. She is a statistician at the CDC in Atlanta.

Other explanations may include the aging of the population, the fact that people with diabetes are living longer, and improved screening that catches more people with diabetes.

But "we have seen a striking and continuous increase, which is more likely the result of increased risk factors," she says.