The Texas Department of Health (TDH) has released a statewide radio and television public service advertising campaign to alert Texans to the dangers of untreated diabetes.

A series of broadcast advertisements emphasize that diabetes is a serious disease that, if untreated, can lead to kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputations and death. The ads state that diabetes can be controlled through healthy diets and medication. Listeners and viewers are urged to talk with their doctors about diabetes prevention, detection and control.

Health officials say half of the estimated 1.7 million Texans who have diabetes do not know they have it.

The campaign, scheduled to run throughout the summer, is part of the Texas Diabetes Prevention and Control Initiative announced last summer. The two-year initiative is a public-private partnership with TDH, the Texas Diabetes Council and Bristol-Myers Squibb, a worldwide health and personal care company headquartered in Plainsboro, N.J.

Diabetes risk factors include a family history of diabetes, high or low blood sugar, being overweight, limited physical exercise and being 45 or older. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans have a higher risk of diabetes.

Symptoms of diabetes include blurred vision, extreme thirst or hunger, sudden weight change, lack of energy, frequent urination, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, frequent infections, slow-healing sores and depression.

Diabetes is characterized by too much sugar in the blood, a condition caused by the body's inability to produce enough insulin or to adequately use insulin, a hormone that allows blood sugar to enter the cells and be used for energy.

Other elements of the initiative include education and prevention programs for health care providers and communities and an early detection public screening and diagnosis pilot program.

(For more information contact Donna Jones, Texas Diabetes Program/Council, Austin, at 512-458-7490; or Emily Palmer, TDH Office of Communications, Austin, at 512-458-7400.)

Available from the Texas Department of Health
Copyright Texas Department of Health
www.tdh.state.tx.us/news/bnew310a.htm