| Today, almost 21 million children and adults in the US have diabetes -- including 9.7 million women -- and almost one third of them do not know it. Diabetes can be especially hard on women. The burden of diabetes on women is unique, because the disease can affect both mothers and their unborn children. Diabetes can cause difficulties during pregnancy such as
a miscarriage or a baby born with birth defects. Women with diabetes are also more likely to have a heart attack, and at a younger age, than women without diabetes.
The prevalence of diabetes is at least 2-4 times higher among African American and Hispanic/Latino women than white women.
Diabetes dramatically increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. In fact, diabetes is often associated with other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity and insulin resistance. People with diabetes may avoid or delay heart and blood vessel disease by controlling the other risk factors.
The same measures that work against heart disease also work to control diabetes: |
