It is no secret there is a high prevalence of diabetes across the country. Recent estimates report 10.5 percent of the US population is diagnosed with diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in North Dakota is similar, with a recent estimate showing 9.9 percent of adults in the state with a diabetes diagnosis.
Brianna Monahan, Diabetes Prevention and Control program coordinator, shared an estimate of four in every ten North Dakota adults are living with prediabetes. Only one in ten have ever been diagnosed and given the opportunity to intervene and reverse their risk for Type 2 diabetes. This is important, because it is shown that up to 30 percent of people with prediabetes go on to develop Type 2 diabetes within five years.
Many adults in North Dakota have at least one risk factor for Type 2 diabetes: obesity (71 percent), hypertension (30 percent), family history of diabetes or gestational diabetes (9 percent).
Monahan stated, “The North Dakota Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (NDDPCP), within the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH), partners with health systems, pharmacies and community-based organizations across the state to increase awareness and action around prediabetes and diabetes prevention.”
NDDPCP’s work includes increasing screening and diagnosis of prediabetes, with subsequent referral to National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), an evidence-based program to help participants make lasting lifestyle change over the course of one year. Monahan remarked that the program has been shown to significantly reduce a person’s risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. North Dakota has programs available throughout the state (in-person or online) to meet the needs of at-risk populations.
Assessing individual risk for Type 2 diabetes takes less than one minute and can be done by using a seven-question risk test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To locate or make a referral to a National Diabetes Prevention Program in North Dakota visit www.NDC3.org.
Maintaining personal health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for many individuals. NDC3 programs provide education, fitness instruction and self-care strategies for participants; they do not replace clinical care provided by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. NDC3 also provides the ability for caregivers and health care providers to refer loved ones or patients to appropriate programs.
Through partnerships across the state, NDC3 provides evidence-based health management activities that promote health and prevent disease among adults with chronic health conditions. NDC3 programs have been developed using rigorous research and demonstrate reliable and consistently positive changes in health-related outcomes among participants.
| Diabetes Prevention and Management |
|
| Falls Prevention |
|
| Chronic Pain and Disease Management |
|
For more information about programs facilitated by NDC3 or to make a referral, visit the website at https://ndc3.org/
* Originally featured in the Q Insider | Great Plains Quality Innovation Network – November 08, 2021 – Vol 2, Issue 11