Diabetes Basics - Who's at Risk?

Type I Diabetes
Type I diabetes is more common among whites than Asian, Hispanic, Native and African Americans. If you have a close relative with the disease, you are more likely to develop Type I.


Type II Diabetes
Type II diabetes also tends to run in families. In fact there seems to be even stronger evidence for some kind of genetic cause for Type II than for Type I diabetes. Type II is more common among Asian, Hispanic, Native and African Americans.
Although Type II diabetes usually develops after age 40, about half of all people diagnosed with the disease are older than 55. This may be because as people age, they tend to become more sedentary and to gain weight. Eating too much food and being inactive can make you obese and you are more likely to develop Type II diabetes if you are obese. Obesity is, by far, the greatest risk factor for this kind of diabetes.
Where the weight is distributed seems to be a factor, too. If you tend to have an apple-shaped body in which you store fat around the tummy, you are more at risk for Type II diabetes. Those with a pear shape in which fat is stored in the hips are somewhat less at risk.



Gestational Diabetes
Any woman can develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, but some women are more at risk than others. Some risk factors include obesity, a family history of diabetes, having previously given birth to a very large baby, a stillbirth, a child with a birth defect or having too much amniotic fluid. Women who are older than 25 are at higher risk than younger women. About 135,000 women develop gestational diabetes every year.