For Immediate Release:
November 13, 2009

Contact:
Kit Wagar
Office of Public Information
573-751-6062

Missourians urged to light their houses blue for World Diabetes Day
Diabetes has more than doubled in Missouri in recent years

A dramatic increase in the number of Missourians with diabetes has state health officials urging people to take steps now to control the disease before it causes kidney failure, blindness or heart problems.

The number of Missourians with diabetes has doubled since 1995 and Missouri health officials are using World Diabetes Day on Saturday to sound the alarm about the need to reduce the toll that diabetes takes.

To bring attention to the worldwide nature of the problem, monuments and public buildings across the globe will be bathed in blue lights Saturday in an effort to “Bring Diabetes to Light.”  Missourians are encouraged to join in by illuminating their houses with blue lights.

State health officials say public awareness and education is crucial to controlling the disease, which affects nearly one in 10 Missouri residents.

“We invite Missourians to help us observe World Diabetes Day by putting a blue bulb in their porch light or in a lamp near a window,” said Glenn Studebaker, health department’s coordinator for diabetes prevention. “Stepping up the fight against diabetes could help save hundreds of lives in Missouri every year.”

More than 1,400 Missourians died from diabetes in 2007. Diabetes can cause a wide range of serious problems that can require amputations of limbs and can cause complications that make the flu deadly.

Because diabetes often has no early symptoms, state health professionals estimate that thousands of people in Missouri are unaware that they have it. A simple and inexpensive blood test can detect the disease.

Health officials recommended that adults over the age of 45 get their blood glucose level checked every three years to determine whether they have diabetes. Health care providers may recommend more frequent screenings for people with risk factors.

Those risk factors include:

• A family history of diabetes
• A history of gestational diabetes or giving birth to at least one baby weighing 9 pounds of more
• Having African-American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino or Asian/Pacific Islander heritage
• Being inactive or exercising less than three times a week
• Being overweight
• Having high blood pressure
• Having abnormal lipid levels (cholesterol or triglycerides)
• Having previously been diagnosed with pre-diabetes

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, often can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle choices that include:

• Being physically active at least 30 minutes a day most days of the week.
• Eating a healthy diet.
• Maintaining a health weight.
• Avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol use.

 
World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat diabetes poses.

More information about diabetes can be found at www.dhss.mo.gov/diabetes/. For more information about World Diabetes Day and the “Bring Light to Diabetes” event, go to www.worlddiabetesday.org/.