“The Diabetic Epidemic: Can Stem Cells be the Savior?”
In response to recent reports released showing that umbilical cord blood stem cells have been successfully used to treat individuals with type 1 diabetes, I believe it is pertinent to shed some light on the prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. Population. Undervaluing these findings could be detrimental to educating the population on the importance of storing umbilical cord blood stem cells at birth as referenced in the articles below.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240160.php
To begin, let’s start with some facts and statistics on the diabetic population courtesy of the American Diabetes Association. Here are just a few statistics from their 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet:
- Among U.S. residents aged 65 years and older, 10.9 million, or 26.9%, had diabetes in 2010.
- In 2005–2008, based on fasting glucose or hemoglobin A1c levels, 35% of U.S. adults aged 20 years or older had prediabetes (50% of adults aged 65 years or older). Applying this percentage to the entire U.S. population in 2010 yields an estimated 79 million American adults aged 20 years or older with prediabetes.
- Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower- limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States.
- Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke.
- Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
Total Prevalence of Diabetes
- Total: 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—have diabetes.
- Diagnosed: 18.8 million people
- Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people
- Prediabetes: 79 million people
- New Cases: 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010.
The numbers clearly outline that diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases plaguing the American population today. More astonishing, is the approximate 79 million adults ages 20 years and older that are prediabetic in addition to the roughly 26 million diagnosed cases.2 That equates to roughly 35% of America's 313 million citizens fall into the diabetic category or are at risk. Let me repeat, 35% of our population.
Cost of Diabetes
After adjusting for population age and sex differences, average medical expenditures among people with diagnosed diabetes were 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.
Death among people with diabetes, United States, 2007
Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death based on U.S. death certificates in 2007. This ranking is based on the 71,382 death certificates in 2007 in which diabetes was the underlying cause of death. Diabetes was a contributing cause of death in an additional 160,022 death certificates for a total of 231,404 certificates in 2007 in which diabetes appeared as any-listed cause of death.
Diabetes is likely to be underreported as a cause of death. Studies have found that about 35% to 40% of decedents with diabetes had it listed anywhere on the death certificate and about 10% to 15% had it listed as the underlying cause of death.
Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people of similar age but without diabetes. 1
So what does all this mean?
With diabetes affecting nearly 9% of our population (and rising) and diabetes being the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, I believe the "importance of storing umbilical cord blood stem cells" has become an imperative decision to be weighed by not only families but our nation as a whole. $1 out of every 10 healthcare dollars is attributed to diabetes. Every American citizen, regardless of their diabetic status, is a $700 dollar annual burden. These numbers pale in comparison to the costs of storing umbilical cord blood stem cells for your child. This represents just ONE of the hundreds of research breakthroughs being made using cord blood stem cells to combat disease. So why is storing cord blood stem cells important in regards to the diabetes epidemic? With medical breakthroughs using adult stem cells from umbilical cord blood, storing these for your child provides a 100% match for use in the future, should the need arise. The use of cord blood stem cells in medicine is clearly growing. Based on the numbers presented by the American Diabetes Association fact sheet, if the annual burden is $700 dollars, this equates to $12,600 dollars over an 18 year span where privately storing your baby’s cord blood stem cells over 18 years equates to approximately $4,325 dollars, nearly a 1/3 of the cost. Being proactive could prove to be your best defense in securing your child's future medical well-being. “Saving Baby's Cord Blood Saves Lives” and this phrase has never rang more true.
Become educated. Become Aware. Make the decision to give today and tomorrow's generations the tools needed to ensure they are prepared by banking their umbilical cord blood privately or donating to a public bank for use in a national registry or research. Together we can make a difference and bring a brighter tomorrow to all!!!
1http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.pdf
2American Diabetes Association
Andy Brown
The Cord Group
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