Growth in diabetes diagnoses starting to slow in U.S.

Diabetes diagnoses may be starting to plateau in the United States. The percentage of the population diagnosed with the disease and the rate of new cases per year rose sharply between 1990 and 2008 but haven’t grown quite as quickly between 2008 and 2012, a new study shows. The change may be linked to the slowing growth of obesity, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, the scientists suggest. The results appear in the September 24 JAMA.

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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