Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death in New York City.

► Learn about Children and Diabetes

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

• Frequent urination
• Excessive thirst
• Unexplained weight loss
• Extreme hunger
• Sudden vision changes
• Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
• Feeling very tired much of the time
• Dry skin
• Sores that are slow to heal
• Frequent and recurrent infections

What are the types and risk factors of diabetes?

• Type 1 Diabetes, previously called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or juvenile-onset diabetes, may account for 5% to 10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Risk factors are less well defined for type 1 diabetes than for type 2 diabetes, it is believed to happen after the body is exposed to an environmental trigger which then causes the body to attack the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.



• Type 2 Diabetes, previously called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes, may account for about 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes.
  Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes include:
  • older age (45 years and older)
  • overweight and obesity
  • family history of diabetes
  • history of gestational diabetes
  • history of delivering a baby weighing more than 9 lbs.
  • impaired glucose tolerance
  • physical inactivity
  • race/ethnicity (African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.)
  • physcial inactivity
  • high blood pressure (140/90 mm Hg)
  • low HDL cholersterol (<35 mg/dl) and elevated triglyceride level (>250 mg/dl)
  • history of cardiovascular disease
  • women with polycystic kidney disease

► Learn about Preventing Type 2 Diabetes

• Gestational Diabetes develops in nearly 5% of live births in New York City but usually goes away when the pregnancy is over. However, women who have had gestational diabetes are at increased risk for later developing type 2 diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs more frequently in African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and people with a family history of diabetes than in other groups. Obesity is also associated with higher risk.

► Learn about Gestational Diabetes

What is the treatment for diabetes?

• Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes: Treatment requires a regimen that typically includes a carefully monitored diet, planned physical activity, routine home blood glucose testing, and insulin injections.
• Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes: Treatment typically includes diet control, regular physical activity, medications taken by mouth or by injection, and for some, routine home blood glucose testing.

► Learn about Living with Diabetes

Some of the information on this page has been excerpted from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.