Diabetes is a serious condition that no can afford to take lightly. As the years progress, more and more people are diagnosed with some form of diabetes, both young and old. Women and mothers alike have proven to be more susceptible and at risk for this condition in recent studies.
Women that are expecting a baby or may be pregnant need an examination for gestational diabetes right away. More than half the women that develop this type of diabetes also go on to develop type 2 diabetes when unchecked. The likelihood is higher today because many obese adult women are having babies later in life, this can easily compounded if there is a family history of diabetes as well. The diabetes can pass on to the baby and will most likely lead to a premature birth or other possible complications.
Type 2 diabetes is a mostly a lifestyle condition that makes up the majority of the current adult diabetes patients; gestational diabetes is a condition that affects pregnant women and their babies as well. Less than a third of the women are usually checked and approximately 20 percent are susceptible or develop this condition. Pregnant mother are not the only women that prove to be susceptible to this condition.
Recent studies have shown then women over the age of 65 are twice as likely to have type 2 diabetes then women from the ages of 55 to 64; women aged 55 to 64 are twice as likely to have diabetes then women ages 45 to 54 years old. It is imperative for women to have routine examinations for diabetes regardless of their age. Studies from 2005–2008 indicate that approximately 12 percent of adults had diabetes; this is more than 20 million people in the US.
Although diseases don’t necessarily discriminate diabetes seems to strike the African American community particularly hard. African American Type 2 diabetes diagnoses are higher proportionally than other ethnic groups within the US.