When Does Type 2 Diabetes Occur?

When Does Type 2 Diabetes Occur
Who is more likely to develop type 2 diabetes? – You can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood. However, type 2 diabetes occurs most often in middle-aged and older people. You are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you are age 45 or older, have a family history of diabetes, or are overweight or have obesity,

Diabetes is more common in people who are African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander. Physical inactivity and certain health problems such as high blood pressure affect your chances of developing type 2 diabetes. You are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you have prediabetes or had gestational diabetes when you were pregnant.

Learn more about risk factors for type 2 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes occurs most often in middle-aged and older people.

How long does it take for type 2 diabetes to start?

About Prediabetes & Type 2 Diabetes There are 96 million American adults who have prediabetes – that’s 1 in 3 adults! Of those 96 million, more than 8 in 10 of them don’t even know they have it. Without taking action, many people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years.

With numbers like that, it’s important to learn about prediabetes and take action.
Take our to find out if you are at risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
A print version of the is also available.
Having prediabetes means your blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal—but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

Prediabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Prediabetes can often be reversed. When Does Type 2 Diabetes Occur With type 2 diabetes, your body cannot properly use insulin (a hormone that helps glucose get into the cells of the body). You can get type 2 diabetes at any age, but you are at higher risk if you are older, overweight, have a family history of diabetes, are not physically active, or are a woman who had gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes is a kind of diabetes that some women get when they are pregnant.
Even if a woman’s blood sugar levels go down after her baby is born, she is at higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes later in life.
With type 1 diabetes, your body cannot make insulin, so you need to take insulin every day.

Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2; approximately 5-10% of the people who have diabetes have type 1. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes. If you want to learn more about the basics of diabetes and prediabetes, you can visit,

You are overweight. You are 45 years of age or older. Your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes. You are physically active fewer than 3 times per week. You ever gave birth to a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds. You ever had diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes).

Race and ethnicity also affect your risk. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and some Asian Americans are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes. Following are the percentage of people in the United States with diagnosed diabetes from 2018 to 2019:

Non-Hispanic Blacks – 12.1% Hispanics – 11.8% Non-Hispanic Asians – 9.5% Non-Hispanic Whites – 7.4%

If you are at risk, talk to a health care professional about getting a blood sugar test. Diabetes Is Serious and Common Diabetes is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the United States—and studies show that deaths related to diabetes may be under-reported! Today, 1 in 10 U.S. adults has diabetes, and if trends continue, 1 in 5 will have it by 2025. An additional 96 million U.S.

Heart attack Stroke Blindness Kidney failure Loss of toes, feet, or legs

Diabetes Is Costly Type 2 diabetes affects millions of individuals and their families, workplaces, and the U.S. health care system. In 2017, the total cost of care for people with diagnosed diabetes was $327 billion, up 33% over a 5-year period. About 1 in 4 health care dollars is spent on people with diagnosed diabetes. The majority of expenses are related to hospitalizations and medications used to treat complications of diabetes. People diagnosed with diabetes incur on average $16,750 annually in medical expenses. That’s about 2.3 times the medical expenses of a person without diabetes. The need to prevent type 2 diabetes has never been greater. If you have prediabetes, a CDC-recognized lifestyle change program is one of the most effective ways to prevent getting type 2 diabetes. It can help you lose weight, become more active, and prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. To learn more, visit ? If you’re not sure if you’re at risk, take this or ask your health care professional about getting a blood sugar test. A print version of the is also available. Albright A, Gregg EW. Preventing type 2 diabetes in communities across the US: the National Diabetes Prevention Program. Am J Prev Med 2013;44(4):S346-S351. Available from Boyle JP, Thompson TJ, Gregg EW, Barker LE, Williamson DF. (2010). Projection of the year 2050 burden of diabetes in the US adult population: dynamic modeling of incidence, mortality, and prediabetes prevalence. Population Health Metrics. Available from, Knowler WC, Barrett-Conner E, Fowler SE, et al.; Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med 2002;346:393–403. Available from, American Diabetes Association. Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2017. Diabetes Care 2018;41(5):917-928. Available from : About Prediabetes & Type 2 Diabetes

Can you get type 2 diabetes at any age?

Overview – Type 2 diabetes is an impairment in the way the body regulates and uses sugar (glucose) as a fuel. This long-term (chronic) condition results in too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream. Eventually, high blood sugar levels can lead to disorders of the circulatory, nervous and immune systems.

In type 2 diabetes, there are primarily two interrelated problems at work.
Your pancreas does not produce enough insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells — and cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.
Type 2 diabetes used to be known as adult-onset diabetes, but both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can begin during childhood and adulthood.

Type 2 is more common in older adults, but the increase in the number of children with obesity has led to more cases of type 2 diabetes in younger people. There’s no cure for type 2 diabetes, but losing weight, eating well and exercising can help you manage the disease.

When do type 2 diabetes symptoms start?

Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes – Type 2 diabetes symptoms often take several years to develop. Some people don’t notice any symptoms at all. Type 2 diabetes usually starts when you’re an adult, though more and more children and teens are developing it. Because symptoms are hard to spot, it’s important to know the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

Can a healthy person develop type 2 diabetes?

Diabetes can strike—hard—even when weight is normal – Harvard Health ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed.

No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. We tend to think of type 2 diabetes as a disease that afflicts people who are overweight. But it can also appear in people with perfectly healthy weights—and be more deadly in them.

A study published today in the indicates that normal-weight people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have double the risk of dying from heart disease and other causes than overweight people with diabetes. Such apparent “protection” by excess weight has been called the obesity paradox.

Is Diabetes Type 2 life long?

What did this study examine? – This study measured average increases in life expectancy years for people with type 2 diabetes who met four different treatment goals. Researchers divided study participants into six groups based on sex and three age ranges. People with diabetes can use results to estimate their own likely life expectancy increase.

Can type 2 diabetes appear suddenly?

Many miss prediabetes wake-up call – Harvard Health ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

Type 2 diabetes doesn’t usually appear all of a sudden. Many people have a long, slow, invisible lead-in to it called prediabetes. During this period, blood sugar levels are higher than normal. However, they’re not high enough to cause symptoms or to be classified as diabetes. It’s still possible at this stage to prevent the slide into full-blown diabetes.

Think of prediabetes as a wake-up call. Unfortunately, few people ever hear the alarm. A new shows that among Americans age 20 and older, only 10% of those with prediabetes know they have it. Given that as many as, that’s a lot of missed opportunities to prevent the ravages of diabetes.

One reason many people don’t know that they may be headed toward diabetes is they’ve never had their blood sugar tested.
This simple test isn’t part of routine preventive care. The U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force recommends blood sugar “screening” only in individuals with high blood pressure.
Screening means hunting for hidden disease in the absence of any outward signs or symptoms.) That’s important, because recommendations from the Task Force, an independent panel of experts, are used by many health-care organizations to determine preventive care.

In addition, Task Force recommendations will help determine what services are covered under the Affordable Care Act.

Is type 2 diabetes gradual or sudden?

Symptoms – If type 2 diabetes goes untreated, blood sugar levels stay high all the time. Type 2 diabetes can develop gradually over several years without any noticeable symptoms, so the diagnosis often comes as a surprise. Having high blood sugar levels for months or years eventually causes the following symptoms, though:

Extreme thirst Frequent urination Tiredness and listlessness Nausea Dizziness

If someone has extremely high blood sugar levels, they may feel confused and drowsy or even lose consciousness (diabetic coma).

Why do fit people get diabetes?

Bad diet – Just because you’re a healthy weight, it doesn’t mean you have a good diet. When you eat a lot of foods high in sugar and unhealthy fats, like trans and saturated fats, that can actually increase the visceral fat in your body and raise your blood sugar.

What eating habits lead to diabetes?

Can diabetes be prevented or avoided? – Talk to your doctor about your risk factors for diabetes. Although you may not be able to change all of them, you can make changes to significantly lower your risk.

Exercise and weight control. Exercising and maintaining a healthy weight can reduce your risk of diabetes. Any amount of activity is better than none. Try to exercise for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. Always talk with your doctor before starting an exercise program. Diet. A diet high in fat, calories, and cholesterol increases your risk of diabetes. A poor diet can lead to obesity (another risk factor for diabetes) and other health problems. A healthy diet is high in fiber and low in fat, cholesterol, salt, and sugar. Also, remember to watch your portion size. How much you eat is just as important as what you eat.

The single most important thing you can do is control your blood sugar level. You can do this by eating right, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and, if needed, taking oral medicines or insulin.

Diet. Your diet should include lots of complex carbohydrates (such as whole grains), fruits, and vegetables. It’s important to eat at least 3 meals per day and never skip a meal. Eat at about the same time every day. This helps keep your insulin or medicine and sugar levels steady. Avoid empty calories, such as foods high in sugar and fat, or alcohol. Exercise. Exercising helps your body use insulin and lower your blood sugar level. It also helps control your weight, gives you more energy, and is good for your overall health. Exercise also is good for your heart, your cholesterol levels, your blood pressure, and your weight. These are all factors that can affect your risk of heart attack and stroke, Talk with your doctor about starting an exercise program. Maintain a healthy weight. Losing excess weight and maintaining a healthy body weight will help you in 2 ways. First, it helps insulin work better in your body. Second, it will lower your blood pressure and decrease your risk for heart disease. Take your medicine. If your diabetes can’t be controlled with diet, exercise, and weight control, your doctor may recommend medicine or insulin. Most people who have type 2 diabetes start with an oral medicine (taken by mouth). Oral medicines can make your body produce more insulin. They also help your body use the insulin it makes more efficiently. Some people need to add insulin to their bodies with insulin injections, insulin pens, or insulin pumps. Always take medicines exactly as your doctor prescribes. Oral medicine doesn’t work for everyone. It isn’t effective in the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Insulin therapy is necessary for all people who have type 1 diabetes and for some people who have type 2 diabetes. If you need insulin, you’ll have to give yourself a shot (either with a syringe or with an insulin pen). Your doctor will tell you which kind of medicine you should take and why.

Your doctor will test your blood sugar every 3 months with an A1C test. Your doctor may ask you to test your blood sugar on your own throughout the day if you are taking insulin or they are adjusting your medication. You will need to use a blood glucose monitor to check it on your own.

This involves pricking your finger for blood and putting a test strip in the blood.
Putting the test strip in the monitor gets the results.
Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) are also an option to help people with diabetes measure their blood glucose around the clock If your blood sugar gets too low, you might feel tired, experience problems with muscle coordination, sweat, have difficulty thinking or speaking clearly, twitch, feel like you’re going to faint, become pale, lose consciousness, or have a seizure.

At the earliest sign of any of these symptoms, eat or drink something that will raise your blood sugar fast. This could include candy, juice, milk, or raisins. If you don’t feel better in 15 minutes or if monitoring shows that your blood sugar level is still too low, eat or drink another item to raise your blood sugar fast.

Always keep a supply of these items on hand for emergencies.
You may not know if your blood sugar is too high unless you test it yourself.
However, you may experience common symptoms such as frequent urination, extreme thirst, blurry vision, and feeling tired.
Some factors unrelated to food can make your blood sugar high.

This includes not taking your insulin correctly, overeating at a meal, illness, having hormonal changes, and stress. If your blood sugar level is too high and you take insulin, you may need to take an extra dose of rapid- or short-acting insulin to return it to normal.

Your doctor can tell you how much insulin you need to take to lower your blood sugar level. You can live a normal life with well-controlled diabetes. However, you have to pay attention to your diet, weight, exercise, and medicine. If you don’t control your diabetes, you will have too much glucose in your blood.

This can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease and damage to the nerves and kidneys. These are known as diabetic complications. Complications include:

Diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage). This makes it hard for your nerves to send messages to your brain and other parts of the body. You may lose feeling in parts of your body or have a painful, tingling, or burning feeling. Neuropathy most often affects the feet and legs. If you have neuropathy, you may not be able to feel a sore on your foot. The sore can become infected. In serious cases, the foot may have to be amputated (removed). People who have neuropathy may continue walking on a foot that has damaged joints or bones. This can lead to a condition called Charcot foot. Charcot foot causes swelling and instability in the injured foot. It can also cause the foot to become deformed. However, this problem can often be avoided. Check your feet every day. See your doctor immediately if you see swelling, redness, and feel warmth in your foot. These can be signs of Charcot foot. Your doctor should check your feet frequently, too. Neuropathy also can cause erectile dysfunction in men and vaginal dryness in women. Diabetic retinopathy (eye problems). This affects the part of your eye called the retina. It’s the part of the eye that is sensitive to light and sends messages to your brain about what you see. Diabetes can damage and weaken the small blood vessels in the retina. When the blood vessels of your retina are damaged, fluid can leak from them and cause swelling in your macula. The macula is the part of the retina that gives you sharp, clear vision. Swelling and fluid can cause blurry vision. This makes it hard for you to see. If retinopathy gets worse, it may lead to blindness. Laser surgery can often be used to treat or slow down retinopathy if found early. People who have diabetes should have an eye exam once a year. See your doctor if you have blurry vision for more than 2 days, sudden loss of vision in 1 or both eyes, black or moving gray spots often called “floaters,” flashing lights, or pain or pressure in your eyes. Diabetic nephropathy (kidney damage). This is damage to the blood vessels in your kidneys. This means your kidneys have trouble filtering out waste. Some people who have nephropathy will eventually need dialysis (a machine treatment that eliminates waste from the blood) or a kidney transplant. The risk for nephropathy is increased if you have both diabetes and high blood pressure, so it’s important to control both of these conditions. Protein in the urine is usually the first sign of nephropathy. This should be checked yearly. Heart disease and stroke. People who have diabetes are at greater risk for heart disease and stroke, The risk is even greater for people who have diabetes and smoke, have high blood pressure, have a family history of heart disease, or are overweight. Heart disease is easiest to treat when it’s caught early. It’s very important to see your doctor on a regular basis. He or she can test for early signs of heart disease. This includes checking cholesterol levels. If your cholesterol is higher than the recommended level, your doctor will talk to you about lifestyle changes and medicine to help get your cholesterol under control.

The longer your diabetes is uncontrolled, the more damage you do to your health. That’s why treatment is important at any age. Keeping blood sugar levels very close to the ideal can minimize, delay, and in some cases even prevent the problems that diabetes can cause.

Can type 2 diabetes come on suddenly?

Type 2 diabetes doesn’t usually appear all of a sudden.
Many people have a long, slow, invisible lead-in to it called prediabetes.
During this period, blood sugar levels are higher than normal.
However, they’re not high enough to cause symptoms or to be classified as diabetes.
It’s still possible at this stage to prevent the slide into full-blown diabetes.

One reason many people don’t know that they may be headed toward diabetes is they’ve never had their blood sugar tested. This simple test isn’t part of routine preventive care. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends blood sugar “screening” only in individuals with high blood pressure. (Screening means hunting for hidden disease in the absence of any outward signs or symptoms.) That’s important, because recommendations from the Task Force, an independent panel of experts, are used by many health-care organizations to determine preventive care.

In addition, Task Force recommendations will help determine what services are covered under the Affordable Care Act.