About 84 million Americans — more than one in three adults — have a disorder that greatly increases their risk for two potentially lethal diseases: type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading killer of men and women, often from heart attacks and strokes. Although this disorder, prediabetes, can easily be detected with a blood test covered by almost all health plans, 90% of those with this extremely common blood sugar abnormality (about 75.5 million Americans) are unaware of their peril, according to the CDC.
Yet with early diagnosis and simple lifestyle changes, prediabetes can be reversed in up to 85% of cases without medication, large studies have shown. Here’s a closer look at this often undiagnosed cardiovascular threat, how to find out if you have it, and what you can do to prevent or reverse it.
