Risk Factors for Diabetes

Members of African American, Native American/Alaska Native, Asian American, Hispanic American/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander ethnic groups are at increased risk for diabetes.

Other things that can put you at higher risk for developing diabetes include:

• Being more than 20 percent above your ideal body weight

• Having a mother, father, brother, or sister with diabetes

• Giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds or having diabetes during pregnancy

• Having high blood pressure (140/90 or higher)

• Having abnormal blood lipid levels, such as low HDL (good) cholesterol (less than 35 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)), or high triglycerides (greater than 250 mg/dL)

• Having abnormal glucose tolerance in an earlier diabetes test.