Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: Talking to Your Patients About Lifestyle Change | Diabetes

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Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Talking to your patients about lifestyle change.

Threat of Prediabetes

About 98 million American adults—more than 1 in 3—have prediabetes.

More than 8 in 10 adults with prediabetes don’t know they have it.

Prediabetes increases the risk of:

• Type 2 Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Stroke

If your patients have prediabetes, losing weight by eating healthy and being more active can cut their risk of getting type 2 diabetes in half.

Lifestyle Change Program

The lifestyle change program that is part of the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program is proven to help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. It is based on research that showed:

• 58% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes after weight loss of 5 to 7% of body weight achieved by reducing calories and increasing physical activity to at least 150 minutes per week.
• 71% reduced incidence of type 2 diabetes for people 60 and older.
• 27% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes in lifestyle change program participants after 15 years.

The lifestyle change program provides:

• A trained lifestyle coach
• CDC-approved curriculum
• Group support over the course of a year
• A full year of in-person or online meetings

Your patients will learn to make achievable and realistic life changes

• Eat healthy
• Manage stress
• Incorporate physical activity into their daily routine
• Solve problems that get in the way of healthy changes

Patient Eligibility

• 18 years or older, and
• Overweight, and
• Diagnosed with prediabetes or previously diagnosed with gestational diabetes

How you can help your patients

• Test your at-risk patients for prediabetes.
• Refer your patients with prediabetes to a CDC-approved lifestyle change program.

Learn more from CDC and find an approved lifestyle change program at: www.cdc.gov/diabetes-prevention