50% of healthy adult Americans will suffer from prediabetes, a new study reveals

One in two adults who are at their mid-40s will develop prediabetes where there is a rise in the blood sugar level of a person and may often lead to diabetes, according to a new study published online Nov. 10 on The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

"We have known this from previous studies - but what this study adds is a method of communicating risk in a better way—a person's lifetime risk of developing diabetes," said Dr. Kamlesh Khunti of Leicester General Hospital in the U.K., who coauthored an editorial accompanying the new results.

People who have prediabetes, which is also referred to as impaired glucose metabolism, will exhibit no clear signs or symptoms. However, the American Diabetes Association recommend that those people with higher than normal blood sugar based on a blood test should be tested for diabetes every one or two years, according to a report from Reuters.

The conclusion of the study was based from a data involving 10,000 adults from The Netherlands, including medical records, hospital discharge letters, pharmacy dispensing data and fasting blood sugar measurements, over a period of 15 years.

The researchers from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston closely monitored these people. They categorized their blood sugar levels according to World Health Organization standards.

Blood sugar levels of 6 millimoles/per liter (108 milligrams per deciliter) or less are considered normal or healthy; levels above 6mmol/L and below 7mmol/L (108-128 mg/dl) are considered elevated or prediabetic; and levels of 7mmol/L or greater are diabetes.

After the study period of 15 years, the findings show that there is a total of 1,148 people who developed elevated blood sugar levels, 828 developed diabetes and 237 started taking insulin to control their diabetes. For those who are aged 45 years old, the team found out that half would be pre-diabetic before they die, while almost a third of them would go on to have diabetes.

According to Khunti, the results were no different from other researches from other countries. "However, some studies in black and minority ethnic populations have higher rates of diabetes," he said.

Khunti also reminded the need for keeping a healthy lifestyle in order to stave off the risk of diabetes. He said that it is still important to maintain a healthy diet and do fitness exercises.

 "People should know their risk and if they are at higher risk, then they should have a more intensive method of reducing future diabetes risk," Khunti explained.