1 in 10 doctor appointments in the US involve diabetes

The number of visits to a doctor made by patients with diabetes in the USA increased by a fifth between 2005 and 2010, according to latest health statistics.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that office-based visits for diabetes patients increased from 94.4 million to 113.3 million over the five years, meaning that 1 in every 10 primary care visits in 2010 involved diabetes.
The greatest rise was seen among patients aged 25 to 44 years, with office visits among this group climbing by 34%, highlighting the growing prevalence of diabetes in adolescence.
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) also found that the majority of overall visits involved treatment for multiple problems, or complications.
“Approximately 35% of visits made by patients age 45 and over were by patients with four or more chronic conditions,” said Dr. Jeffrey Powell, chief of the division of endocrinology at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, New York.
“This means that in addition to addressing diabetes, physicians have to consider multiple other medical conditions that the patients have as well. This becomes difficult to do in one office visit.”
According to the CDC, approximately 29 million Americans live with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes and nearly $245 billion (£145 billion) is spent each year on managing diabetes.