Risk Factors

Risk Factors: 

Weight: Overweight is a primary risk factor for type 2 diabetes. If you have more fatty tissue, the more resistant your cells become to insulin.

Fat distribution: If your body stores fat primarily in the abdominal area, then the chances of developing type 2 diabetes is greater than if your body stores fat elsewhere, such as your hips and thighs.


Inactivity: The less active you are, the greater the risk of type 2 diabetes. Physical activity helps you to control your weight, and use up more glucose as energy and makes the cells more sensitive to insulin.

Age: The risk of type 2 diabetes increases with your age, especially after the age of 45. That may be because people exercise less, lose their muscle mass and gain more weight as they age. But as of now,type 2 diabetes is also prevalent among children, adolescents and younger adults.

Race: As of known until today,people of certain races — including blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Asian-Americans — are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than whites are, due to various reasons that are yet unclear.

Prediabetes: Prediabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be specified as diabetes. When left untreated, prediabetes eventually progresses to type 2 diabetes.

Family history: The chance of developing type 2 diabetes increases if your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes: If you developed gestational diabetes when you were pregnant, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases. People who gave birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds (4 kilograms), are also at risk of type 2 diabetes.