SANTA FE — The New Mexico Department of Health joins the American Diabetes Association in recognizing March 27 as “Diabetes Alert Day”. The annual health observance encourages New Mexicans and others nationwide to take a quick, free online type 2 diabetes risk test and learn how they can delay, or even prevent, the disease.
NMDOH encourages New Mexicans to access the risk test through the department Facebook page: www.facebook.com/nmdoh, or visit www.diabetes.org/alertday.
“Diabetes Alert Day can be a wakeup call to the dangers of diabetes and the need to make sure more New Mexicans don’t risk becoming a victim of it,” said Department of Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher. “As with many illnesses, early diagnosis is critical for successful treatment.”
An estimated 230,000 New Mexican adults have diabetes, and over 530,000 New Mexican adults have pre-diabetes, the condition that comes before type 2 diabetes in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal. NMDOH’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program estimates only three in ten New Mexican adults with pre-diabetes are aware of it, which prevents them from taking important steps to prevent or delay diabetes.
Left untreated, diabetes complications can lead to heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, stroke, amputation and even death. Its risk factors include family health history, race/ethnicity, higher body weights, increasing age, smoking, lack of physical activity, and high blood pressure.
NMDOH’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program supports several programs for New Mexicans to better prevent and manage pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases. The programs, offered through the Paths to Health NM: Tools for Healthier Living initiative, are proven to work and improve quality of life. For more information on the program, call Paths to Health NM at (505) 850-0176 or (575) 703-2343.
To learn more about understanding prediabetes - what it is, risk factors, and other details about the condition, visit: www.nmhealth.org/about/phd/cdb/dpcp/ndpp/understand/.
Staff Reports
