Diabetes and African Americans

Today, diabetes mellitus is one of the most serious health challenges facing the more than 30 million African Americans. The following statistics illustrate the magnitude of this disease among African Americans.

In 1993, 1.3 million African Americans were known to have diabetes. This is almost three times the number of African Americans who were diagnosed with diabetes in 1963. The actual number of African Americans who have diabetes is probably more than twice the number diagnosed because previous research indicates that for every African American diagnosed with diabetes there is at least one undiagnosed case.

For every white American who gets diabetes, 1.6 African Americans get diabetes.
One in four black women, 55 years of age or older, has diabetes. (Among African Americans, women are more likely to
Twenty-five percent of blacks between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes.
African Americans with diabetes are more likely to develop diabetes complications and experience greater disability from the complications than white Americans with diabetes (Information provided by BlackHealth.com)