Findings From a National Diabetes Survey: Highlighting Progress and Opportunities for Diabetes Prevention and Care

The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) implemented periodic deployment of the NDEP National Diabetes Survey (NNDS) in 2006 to collect data on diabetes-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among U.S. adults with diabetes and on risk-reduction attitudes and behaviors among people at risk for type 2 diabetes. Because of similarities in the nationally representative samples of the past three surveys, trends between 2011 and 2016 can be assessed. We present key findings of the 2016 NNDS, focusing on areas of interest to diabetes educators. The 2016 NNDS identified both progress and gaps. Eighty-nine percent of people with diabetes are aware of the A1C test, and disparities by race and ethnicity are narrowing. Awareness of the link between cardiovascular disease and diabetes has plateaued at 75% of respondents. Most people with diabetes do not feel comfortable managing hyper- or hypoglycemia (65 and 60%, respectively), and 60–69% report some level of diabetes distress. Among people without diabetes, awareness of personal risk of type 2 diabetes has increased from 30% in 2011 to 45% in 2016. A diagnosis of prediabetes significantly increases awareness of personal risk of diabetes (65% of people with prediabetes vs. 45% of those at risk), likelihood of receiving counseling about reducing risk (45 vs. 11%), and likelihood of taking action to reduce risk (71 vs. 52%). However, 33% of people without diabetes report not planning to take action to lower their risk of type 2 diabetes. The 2016 NNDS results suggest that outreach and educational efforts have increased knowledge about diabetes and diabetes risk, but also point to the need for more education and support for people with diabetes and those at risk.