The number of people with diabetes has increased significantly in the past two years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the disease now affects nearly 24 million people in the United States...that's nearly eight percent of the population.

In addition, the CDC estimates another 57 million people have pre-diabetes...meaning they are at risk for the disease.

In the same time period however, the number of people who don't know they have diabetes dropped from 30 to 25 percent.

In other medical news…

One day patients with high blood pressure may treat their disease at home, without stepping foot in a doctor's office!

Researchers in Seattle assigned over 700 patients with uncontrolled blood pressure to one of three groups: usual care, home blood pressure monitoring alone, or home monitoring plus pharmacist care via the internet.

They found patients who were in the home monitoring and pharmacist care group were 25 percent more likely to control their blood pressure than those receiving usual care.

Researchers say close to one in three Americans has high blood pressure, so this may be a new way to effectively treat a large group of patients.