WHAT IS DIABETES?Of the more than 20.8 million people with diabetes in the United States, about 5 percent to 10 percent have the type 1 form of the disease. Although type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, it most commonly appears in children, adolescents and young adults. About one of every 400 to 600 children and adolescents in the United States has or will have type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes has no cure, but the outlook for people who have the disease is far better today than it was even 20 years ago. Living with type 1 diabetes can still be a challenge, but improvements in patient education, blood sugar monitoring and insulin delivery have simplified the daily routine of managing the disease. Thanks to these and other advances, people with type 1 diabetes may now have life expectancies comparable to those of people without diabetes. The risk of disabling complications from type 1 diabetes has also been reduced.
