The number of new diabetes cases in the U.S. has declined from 2008 to 2014, according to a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2008, there were 1.7 million new diabetes cases reported for adults aged 18 to 79, but in 2014 that number went down to 1.4 million, indicating a sharp 20 percent drop. This is the first time that diabetes incidence rates have gone down since the disease spiked in the U.S. 25 years ago.
"It seems pretty clear that incidence rates have now actually started to drop," CDC researcher Edward Gregg told The New York Times. "Initially it was a little surprising because I had become so used to seeing increases everywhere we looked."
The decline could have been brought about by years of diabetes information and prevention campaigns, or it could be a sign that the disease is peaking in the country. Whatever the reason, experts are still unsure, but the statistics coincides with the general improvement in the health of Americans, The New York Times reported.
The incidence rates have gone down significantly for whites. However, although the rate has gone down for blacks and Hispanics, the drop was not statistically significant.
"It's not yet time to have a parade," said Dr. David M. Nathan from the Diabetes Center and Clinical Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. However, he is hopeful that the reality of diabetes "has finally entered into the consciousness of our population" and people are realizing "that the sedentary lifestyle is a real problem, that increased body weight is a real problem."
An estimated 29 million adult Americans have diabetes, and 86 million have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, according to the CDC.
