Diabetes Resources

CDC and its partners have developed several tools to help employers, insurers, health care providers, and states assess the effect of diabetes on their communities and populations of interest. These tools can be used to calculate economic costs, evaluate the benefits of offering the National DPP lifestyle change program, and review existing policies related to education and management of diabetes.

United States Diabetes Surveillance System

CDC developed and manages the online United States Diabetes Surveillance System (USDSS). This system is used by public health planners, policy makers, health care systems, and public health practitioners to track and respond to trends in diabetes at national, state, and local levels.

The USDSS monitors incidence and prevalence of diabetes, risk factors, preventive care practices, and complications using various national surveys. These surveys include the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the National Health Interview Survey, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The USDSS also includes data on chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease from the United States Renal Data System.

In 2020, the USDSS added a new module on social determinants of health. This module includes information on a social vulnerability index with five categories: overall, socioeconomic status, household composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing type and transportation. It also provides year-specific, county-level estimates of diabetes prevalence and incidence, as well as obesity and physical inactivity, for 2010–2018.

An interactive web application allows users to view the latest data on any device, from desktops to smartphones, and produce a wide variety of reports, datasets, and slides.²⁰

CDC is implementing its Data Modernization Initiative to modernize core data and surveillance infrastructure across the federal and state public health landscape. This includes streamlining core public health data sources so they are automatically and electronically sent and ready for use in cloud-enabled public health systems. Public health surveillance and sources that will be consolidated and linked include laboratory reporting, electronic case reporting, syndromic emergency department reporting, death reporting, immunization reporting, and nationally notifiable disease reporting to CDC.⁴⁰

Diabetes State Burden Toolkit

The Diabetes State Burden Toolkit provides state estimates of diabetes burden (prevalence, incidence, and related conditions), economic costs, and deaths. It also presents data about diabetes-related complications; healthy life years lost; and costs related to medical care, absence from work, and lost household productivity.⁴¹

Diabetes Prevention Impact Toolkit

CDC developed the Diabetes Prevention Impact Toolkit to help employers, insurers, and state health departments estimate the health and economic savings of offering the National DPP lifestyle change program to populations at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.⁴²

DSMES Toolkit

The DSMES Toolkit provides a comprehensive set of resources and tools to support the development, promotion, implementation, and sustainability of DSMES services.⁴³

National DPP

The National DPP has a variety of resources, including the following:

National DPP Coverage Toolkit
The National DPP Coverage Toolkit was developed to support Medicaid and Medicare Advantage programs, commercial health plans, and employers that are considering covering or implementing the National DPP lifestyle change program.²⁸

National DPP Find a Program Tool
The National DPP Find a Program Tool lists CDC-recognized organizations that offer the National DPP lifestyle change program in communities across the United States, as well as virtually. It is updated frequently to reflect the most current class locations and contact information so people at high risk of type 2 diabetes can easily find a class to meet their needs.⁴⁴

National DPP Customer Service Center
CDC created the National DPP Customer Service Center to address the increasing demand for technical assistance and training from partners involved in delivering, promoting, or referring people to the National DPP lifestyle change program. This online “one-stop shop” allows organizations to access centralized resources, request personalized technical assistance, and participate in discussions with other members of the National DPP community. It provides articles, recorded webinars, and answers to frequently asked questions. Organizations that need more help can also submit technical assistance requests through the website or by email.⁴⁵

Rx for the National DPP: Action Guide for Community Pharmacists
Rx for the National DPP: Action Guide for Community Pharmacists is designed to help community pharmacists and other members of the pharmacy workforce get involved in the National DPP. It is framed around three tiers of engagement: (1) promoting awareness of prediabetes and the National DPP; (2) screening, testing, and referring people with prediabetes to CDC-recognized program delivery organizations; and (3) delivering the lifestyle change program at pharmacies.⁴⁶

Chronic Kidney Disease Surveillance System

The Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Surveillance System provides a range of data on CKD in the United States, including prevalence and incidence, risk factors, and quality of health care. It was created by CDC in collaboration with the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Michigan. The system also includes data that can be used to monitor kidney disease objectives for Healthy People 2030.⁴⁷

Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System

The Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS) provides data to help health professionals, researchers, policy makers, and patients understand the scope of vision loss, eye disorders, and eye care services in the United States. It was developed by CDC and the nonpartisan and objective research organization NORC at the University of Chicago.

CDC used VEHSS data to create state profiles to show the impact of vision impairment and comorbid conditions across the United States. The profiles provide state-level data from the BRFSS and the American Community Survey, as well as county-level maps for each state that show the prevalence of self-reported severe vision impairment.⁴⁸