Almost 21 million people in the U.S. have diabetes and about 6 million of those are undiagnosed. Every year, some 15,000 youth in the U.S. are newly diagnosed with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes and about 3,700 are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Almost 90 percent of people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes will develop some form of diabetic retinopathy.

Dr. Lee noted that while the rate of new cases of diabetes is now decreasing in the white population, it continues to dramatically increase among Hispanics. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Diabetes Education Program, Mexican-Americans, the largest Hispanic subgroup in the U.S., are twice as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. Given current trends, by the year 2050, about 40 percent of Hispanic men and 50 percent of Hispanic women born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes.

SOURCE The Vision Center