CDC: Diabetes strikes nearly one-quarter of seniors in U.S.

The latest snapshot of diabetes in the United States does not look encouraging and particularly for seniors: Almost 25% of those aged 60 and over had diabetes last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The prevalence of diabetes has been rising in adults of all age groups. A total of 8% of Americans, or nearly 24 million people, now have the disease, the report said. Another 57 million are estimated to have general blood sugar abnormalities that could well lead to diabetes. Those with the highest rates are American Indians and Alaskan Natives (16.5% of the population). At the lower end of the spectrum are Asian Americans at 7.5% and whites at 6.6%.

But the report, which was issued Tuesday, is not all grim, according to Dr. Ann Albright, director of the CDC Division of Diabetes Translation. As recently as 2006, reports indicated that up to 30% of people with diabetes did not know they had it. This report, which uses data from 2007, found that number dropped to 25%.