HEALTH

Diabetes still on the rise in U.S., CDC reports

Mike Stobbe The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, June 10, 2014 11:13AM EDT

A 19-year old diagnosed with diabetes gives herself an injection of insulin at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, Calif., in this Sunday, April 29, 2012 file photo. (AP / Reed Saxon)

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NEW YORK -- The number of Americans with diabetes has increased again -- now more than 29 million people have the illness.

That's an increase of about 3 million from three years ago.

In new report released Tuesday, federal scientists calculated that more than 9 per cent of Americans have diabetes -- or 1 in 11 people. The report estimates that about a quarter of them haven't been diagnosed yet and don't know they have diabetes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used a 2012 national survey and other data to come up with the new numbers.

Diabetes is a disease in which sugar builds up in the blood. The most common form is tied to obesity, and the number of diabetics has ballooned with the rise in obesity.