Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: Talking to Your Patients About Lifestyle Change

About 98 million American adults – more than 1 in 3 – have prediabetes

More than 8 in 10 adults with prediabetes don’t know they have it

If you patients have prediabetes, losing weight by eating healthy and being more active can cut their risk of getting type 2 diabetes in half.

Prediabetes increases the risk of:

• type 2 diabetes
• heart disease
• stroke

Lifestyle Change Program

The lifestyle change program that is part of the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program is proven to help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. It is based on research that showed:

• weight loss of 5 to 7% of body weight achieved by reducing calories and increasing physical activity to at least 150 minutes per week resulted in a 58% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes
• for people 60 and older, the program reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 71%
• after 10 years, lifestyle change program participants had a 34% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes

The lifestyle change program provides:

• a trained lifestyle coach
• CDC-approved curriculum
• group support
• a full year of in-person online meetings

Your patients will learn to make achievable and realistic lifestyle changes:

• eat healthy
• incorporate physical activity into their daily routine
• manage stress
• solve problems that get in the way of healthy changes

Patient Eligibility

• 18 years or older, and
• overweight, and
• diagnosed with prediabetes, or previously diagnosed with gestational diabetes

How You Can Help Your Patients

• Test your at-risk patients for prediabetes
• Refer your patients with prediabetes to a CDC-approved lifestyle change program

Learn more from CDC and find an approved lifestyle change program at: www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention