diabetescarelive.info

American Indians and Alaska Natives who receive care from the Indian Health Service (IHS):

99,500; 12.8 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 20 years or older who received care from the Indian Health Service (IHS) in 2003 had diagnosed diabetes. Applying the rate of undiagnosed diabetes in the total U.S. population to the American Indians and Alaska Natives who receive care from IHS gives an estimate of 118,000 (15.1 percent) American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 20 years or older with diabetes (both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes).

After adjusting for population age differences, the total prevalence of diabetes in this group is lowest among Alaska Natives (8.1 percent) and highest among American Indians in the southern United States (26.7 percent) and in southern Arizona (27.6 percent). Taking into account population age differences, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites.