Know your risk: Diabetes Alert Day is March 28

March 28 is Diabetes Alert Day and UT Health San Antonio wants you to understand the seriousness of diabetes and the importance of understanding your risk.

Carolina Solis-Herrera, MD, Chief of the Endocrinology Division at UT Health San Antonio, joined several local news stations to discuss the issues affecting South Texans.

Did you know? 

- One in six San Antonians has Type 2 Diabetes, and a third of San Antonians are pre-diabetic.

- Diabetes affects about 30.3 million Americans or about 9.4 percent of the U.S. population.

- Nearly one in four adults living with diabetes, or 7.2 million Americans, are unaware that they have the disease.

-  Another 84 million Americans have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.Nine out of 10 adults with prediabetes don’t know they have it.

- If you have a family history of diabetes, you have a greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes. You are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you are over age 45, are overweight, or are not physically active.

- Hispanics/Latinos are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than other races.

Solis-Herrera says everyone should know the signs and symptoms, especially in San Antonio. 

"The problem with diabetes is, like high blood pressure, and other disorders, you don’t have too many symptoms until your disorder is very uncontrolled," she said. "But if you’re very thirsty, fatigued, you’re gaining or losing weight, craving a lot of sugars, and going very frequently to the bathroom, those are all symptoms that should alarm you.” 

By checking your blood sugar levels, you can take steps to keep those levels within a normal range.

Watch the KSAT interview

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