Why should businesses care about diabetes?
Diabetes takes an economic toll on North Carolina. The 1998 estimated hospitalization costs for diabetes and related complications totaled more than $1.5 billion. Employers incur some of these costs.

In addition, the business community faces indirect costs associated with diabetes and diabetes complications. Healthy employees have fewer sick days and are more productive than unhealthy employees.

Creating a worksite that helps to prevent diabetes and helps diabetic employees better manage their condition makes good business sense.

What is diabetes? What is pre-diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease that means the body does not produce, recognize, or properly use insulin--a hormone needed for turning food into energy for the body. People with poorly-managed diabetes often have poor health conditions, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, which puts them at risk for heart disease and stroke. Other health problems, such as kidney damage and vision impairment are also associated with poorly-managed diabetes.

An estimated 584,000 North Carolinians have diabetes, and that number is growing. Of those, one-third does not know they have the disease.

What is Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and pre-diabetes?
Diabetes is diagnosed by a person’s blood glucose levels.

Most people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes, a form of diabetes that is preventable. Type 2 diabetes means that the body is resistant to insulin. Relative to normal levels of insulin, a lack of insulin also occurs in Type 2 diabetes.

Millions of Americans have blood glucose levels that are above normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes. These people have what is termed pre-diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes most often develops in childhood. About 5 to 10% of people with diabetes have Type 1, which means that the body is unable to produce insulin.

How do people develop diabetes?
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. Of people with Type 2 diabetes, 8 out of 10 are overweight or obese. Poor diets and physical inactivity are health behaviors that increase one’s likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes.

How can a business determine their approximate healthcare costs related to diabetes?
Use the on-line Diabetes Assessment Tool created by the National Diabetes Education Program (available at www.diabetesatwork.org; see Assessment Tool under Getting Started). To complete the assessment, you will need to know the total number of employees in your company.

What can employers do to prevent diabetes onset and to help those with the disease better manage their condition?
There are two broad strategies to keeping North Carolina’s workforce healthy and reducing employers’ healthcare costs related to diabetes. One is to prevent the onset of diabetes; the other is to help diabetic employees better manage the disease.

The Prevention 1st Challenge helps businesses create worksite environments that support employees to be physically active and eat healthy—key behaviors in diabetes prevention and diabetes management.

References:
1. NC Diabetes Prevention and Control Branch, Department of Health and Human Services. Diabetes in North Carolina: A Summary Report, 2002.
2. National Diabetes Education Program, Making a Difference: The Business Community Takes on Diabetes
3. National Diabetes Education Program, www.diabetesatwork.org
4. American Diabetes Association, www.diabetes.org
5. NC State Center for Health Statistics, Behavioral Risk Factor and Surveillance System

Let's rise to the Challenge and put prevention first!

© 2005 NC Prevention Partners