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Diabetes is continuing its assault on Georgians, a new state health report reveals.
About one in 10 adult Georgians have the chronic disease which can lead to severe complications --- leg amputations, blindness and nerve damage --- if not properly treated. About 400,000 adults are being treated for diabetes and another 200,000 probably have the disease but don't know it.
Georgia's rate of people being treated for diabetes --- 7.1 percent of the population--- is ahead of the national rate of 6.5 percent. Gaining too much weight and not getting enough exercise are to blame for the increase in diabetes rates --- a phenomenon experienced across the country.
Elderly people and African-Americans are more likely to have diabetes than any other age or racial group, and about $138 million was spent on diabetes-related hospitalizations in 2000, the Division of Public Health found.
Copyright 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
