Topic

Diabetes

Age-adjusted total diabetes prevalence in U.S. adults rose from 9.7% in 1999–2000 to 14.3% in August 2021–August 2023. Diagnosed diabetes rose; undiagnosed diabetes did not show a significant change over that span in the NCHS brief.

Colorized electron micrograph used as laboratory-medicine page imagery — NIAID / CDC PHIL ID 18156 (public domain). Laboratory imagery accent; diabetes figures are NHANES survey estimates, not viral disease.

Total diabetes on this page combines diagnosed diabetes (told by a clinician, other than during pregnancy) and undiagnosed diabetes (no reported diagnosis, but fasting glucose or HbA1c meets laboratory thresholds). Gestational diabetes is excluded.

Prevalence is not the same as incidence. These percentages estimate how common diabetes was among adults at the time of each survey cycle, age-adjusted so aging alone does not drive the comparison.

Age-adjusted diabetes prevalence, adults age 20+

Percent · NHANES · age-adjusted to 2000 U.S. standard population

Data table & download

Download the data (CSV)

Source: NCHS Data Brief 516 (data table for Figure 5)

How to read this chart

Fasting glucose values in NHANES analyses are adjusted with NCHS forward regression equations noted in the brief.
Survey operations changed around COVID-19; the latest cycle is August 2021–August 2023.
This is not a chart of individual blood-sugar progression over a patient’s lifetime.