By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – The National Institutes of Health has awarded $6.3 million in federal funding to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for research aimed at finding out why Alabama has the fourth highest diabetes rate in the nation.
In 2005, Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control estimated there were approximately 305,000 diabetics in the state.
The five-year research will focus on treatment, prevention and a possible cure for the disease. The ailment increases a person's risk of heart problems, kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage and other health problems.
UAB is one six Diabetes Research and Training Centers in the country.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)