Diabetes Facts
Is diabetes serious?
If untreated or poorly managed, diabetes can cause an assortment of complications, including:
- Kidney disease
- Heart disease
- Nerve damage
- Eye disease
- Problems with erection (impotence)
The initial step in preventing or delaying the start of these complications is recognizing the dangers and the signs and symptoms of diabetes.
What are the risk factors for diabetes?
If you are aged 40 or older, you are at risk for type 2 diabetes and should take the test every three years at a minimum. If any of these risk factors pertain to you, testing should be done earlier and/or more frequently.
Being:
- A member of a high-risk group (Aboriginal, Hispanic, Asian, South Asian or African descent)
- Overweight (particularly in the waist/middle area)
Having:
- A parent or sibling with diabetes
- Health complications linked with diabetes
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol or other fats in the blood
- Gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy)
- Delivered a baby that weighed more than 9 lb (4 kg)
- Impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose
Been diagnosed with any of the following conditions:
- acanthosis nigricans (darkened patches of skin)
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- schizophrenia
