Diabetes affecting the elderly is on the rise

As the baby boomer generation settles into their twilight years, many more Americans may find themselves with a prescription to buy Actos after the onset of diabetes.

As of 2010, more than 25 percent of all Americans over the age of 65 were diagnosed with diabetes, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC data from 2009 shows that the illness of insulin deficiency only killed about 10,000 fewer people than Alzheimer's, making diabetes the nation's seventh leading cause of death. It's also the number one malefactor when it comes to foot amputation, new blindness, and kidney failure.  

"It's a largely self-inflicted problem," Dr. John Bissell, the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center's neurology chief, told the Sacramento Bee.

The doctor went on to explain that diabetes is especially debilitating for seniors who struggle with multiple ailments.

"They have so many other health problems, and they have so many people beating on them about their weight because of those health problems."