The rate of new cases of diabetes almost doubled in the US in the past ten years, fueled by growing obesity and sedentary lifestyle, the government revealed on Friday.

More exactly, new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes rose from 4.8 per 1,000 people from 1995 to 1997 to 9.1 per 1,000 people from 2005 to 2007. Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to obesity and inactivity, which means that more people suffer from obesity and have a sedentary lifestyle. In fact, according to a report released in July by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25.6 percent of all Americans are obese. After having compared these findings to older results, health officials could see a constant and quite concerning increase of the obesity rate in the last 15 years or so. In 2005, the rate was found to be 23.9 percent, in 2000 of 19.8 percent, while back in 1995 of only 15.3 percent. But there are also states where the percentage is even worse than 25 percent, especially in the South. For example, in Alabama the obesity rate reached 30.3 percent, Mississippi, 32 percent and Tennessee 30.1 percent.

Therefore, it’s not a surprise that diabetes rates in the South are higher than in other regions of the US.

“The risk factors for type 2 diabetes include obesity and inactivity, and we know the South has a high prevalence of both obesity and physical inactivity when compared to the other regions in the United States,” said study author Karen Kirtland, a data analyst in the US CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.

West Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee had the highest rates, all at 11 cases per 1,000 or higher. On the other hand, Minnesota, Hawaii and Wyoming had the lowest rates, about 5/6 per 1,000 people. By region, the South (10.5 new cases per year) was followed by the West (8.6 new cases per year), the Northeast (8.2 new cases per year) and Midwest (7.4 new cases per year).

Overall, an estimated 23.6 million American adults and children have diabetes, but about one-quarter of them are unaware they have the disease. About 90-95 percent of cases are type 2 diabetes. People can live with type 2 diabetes for years before they know they have it. The condition doesn’t have visible symptoms from the beginning. That’s the reason why people see a physician only when significant damage is done to their eyesight, heart or kidneys. Visible symptoms are frequent urination, blurred vision and excessive thirst, but people with type 2 diabetes do not show these clear warning signs at the time they develop the disease. That’s why some people are not diagnosed with the disease until 7 to 10 years after onset, the American Diabetes Association warns.

Type 2 diabetes is often diagnosed when people develop one of the disease’s serious complications, such as heart attack, kidney failure, blindness or nerve damage that can lead to amputations. Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Kirtland concluded that US authorities “must step up efforts to prevent and control diabetes, particularly in the southern U.S. Changes such as weight loss combined with moderate physical activity are important steps.”

The study was published in the Oct. 31 issue of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It involved a random-digit-dialed survey of more than 260,000 adults in 33 states between 1995-97 and 2005-07 for which the CDC had complete data.