Q: I was informed last week by my doctor that I have prediabetes; I have a parent and two siblings who have diabetes, but I’ve not heard the term “prediabetes” before. What does it mean?

A: It is now well recognized that persons don’t become diabetic without warning. Instead they pass through a stage of disease called prediabetes, in which blood sugar levels are above normal, but not high enough to be considered diabetes. This stage may last for years.

Risk factors for prediabetes include: being 45 years of age or older; being overweight or obese; having a family history of type 2 diabetes; having high blood pressure; being physically active fewer than 3 times a week; having had gestational diabetes during pregnancy; giving birth to a baby weighing 9 pounds or more, and being of any ethnic background except Caucasian.

The CDC estimates that 1/3 of U.S. adults have prediabetes— which equates to over 240,000 people in Michigan—and that only about 1 in 10 actually know they have it. Almost a third of people with prediabetes will become frankly diabetic within 5 years.

Detecting the disease process at the prediabetic stage allows for interventions that have been shown to prevent progression to diabetes, not to mention the numerous adverse effects of diabetes, such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, neuropathy that causes burning pain in the hands, feet, and lower legs, and small blood vessel disease that often leads to gangrene and foot/leg amputations.

It has also been well demonstrated that this progression can be greatly slowed or even prevented by making two lifestyle changes: losing weight (as little as 7% of current body weight [14 pounds if you weigh 200#]), and beginning increased physical activity (30 minutes of moderate activity 5 days a week, usually brisk walking).

To learn more about this topic, visit the American Diabetes Association’s website at www.diabetes. org/diabetes-basics/ diagnosis/.

I want to thank Phillip S. for this question. To learn more about this and many other health topics, visit the American Academy of Family Physicians’ website at familydoctor.org, where you can click on the Search box in the upper right corner of the website, and enter your topic of interest.

If you have any particular topic you would like to hear more about, message me at paulmdake@gmail. com.

Dr. Paul Dake, a Newberry native, is a retired family physician. He lives in Pinconning, Michigan.