CDC report highlights Oklahoma's growing diabetes problem

In 2010, 10 percent of adult Oklahoma residents were diabetic, compared with 3 percent in 1995, the report said.

An Oklahoma diabetes expert said Thursday that while the state has a big problem with this disease, the 15-year-old estimates may have been too low, making the increase look too big.

“We are terribly concerned about diabetes in Oklahoma, but the headlines are misrepresenting the truth if you actually look at the data,” said Dr. Kenneth Copeland, a director at the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center.

In the 1990s, when Oklahoma's diabetes rate was reported to be 3 percent, Oklahoma had one of the highest obesity rates in the nation, Copeland said. Being that obesity is directly related to developing Type 2 diabetes, the numbers didn't add up, Copeland said.

However, Oklahoma does have a growing diabetes problem.

“It is an increasing problem, it's a terrible problem and it is absolutely devastating to our economy, and we have to do something about it,” Copeland said.

Currently, an estimated 296,000 Oklahoma adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's health data.