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Happy New Year 2016 WhatsApp Status Messages – Best, Funny & Cute

Some of you might have heard the recent announcement from the CDC that the rate of diabetes diagnoses have finally begun to fall after decades of relentless rise. However, there was an enormous problem with this data: it included people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes despite the fact that the diseases are very different AND–most importantly–the rate of type 1 diabetes diagnoses is actually on the rise. Currently 1.25 million Americans have T1D and scientists anticipate this number to increase to 5 million by the year 2050.

Failing to discern between type 1, type 2, gestational, and other rarer forms of diabetes has innumerable consequences for patients. Not only does it render the CDC’s data unreliable, but it facilitates misconceptions and stigmas about diabetes, creates disincentives for medical research funding, and alters public health priorities. While the differentiation might seem like a small error, it has the potential to delay treatment advancements and potentially a cure for those of us living with the disease.