Prediabetes

Diabetes evolves through prediabetes defined as impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Subjects with IFT/IGT have an increased risk of developing diabetes and a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease than normoglycemic individuals.

The term prediabetes was introduced by the American Diabetes Association in 2002 as a way to more clearly convey a state that is between normal blood sugar and type 2 diabetes.

People with prediabetes have glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to indicate diabetes. The condition used to be called borderline diabetes.

Most people with prediabetes don’t have symptoms but they are considered to be a high risk of developing heart disease and other unpleasant circulatory disease.

There are estimated 79 million American adults aged twenty years or older with prediabetes according to National Diabetes Fact Sheet 2011. If the person is obese, the risk for developing diabetes is far greater than for someone whose weight is normal.
Prediabetes