| gumbo 2006-05-10, 12:52 am |
| More children are developing type 2 diabetes
Some 2.7 million adolescents are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes and
39,000 more already have the disease, which was once seen only in adults.
The latest estimates come from a study published in this month's issue of
the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
"I think it more or less formalize(s) what a lot of people have been
wondering about over the last few years," said Glen Duncan, author of the
study and assistant professor of epidemiology and nutritional sciences at
the university of Washington.
Type 2 diabetes, traditionally referred to as adult-onset diabetes, has been
linked to overweight and obese adults, but until recently was unknown in
children.
"We're going to see reports like this in the next 10 years over and over and
over again because of the way we've changed our lifestyle," said Dr. Irl
Hirsch, an endocrinologist and UW professor of medicine. "If you looked at
diabetes camps 20 years ago, you would never see a child with type 2
diabetes."
Type 2 diabetics are resistant to insulin, a hormone that regulates blood
sugar. Treatment usually involves weight loss and a diet low in sugar.
People with type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes, do not make insulin at
all.
Diabetes can be a debilitating and deadly disease, with complications
including blindness, heart disease and kidney failure.
Some 20 million people in the United States have diabetes, including 6
million who have not been diagnosed, according to the American Diabetes
Association.
Duncan looked at data for 4,370 children, ages 12 to 19, from the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate the number of children
with diabetes.
A measurement called fasting blood glucose determined which children were at
risk for developing diabetes. Of the 4,370 surveyed, 18 had diabetes -- 71
percent with type 1 and 29 percent with type 2. An additional 178 had high
sugar readings.
With so many children possibly on the brink of developing diabetes, Duncan
said doctors should be aggressively testing teens at risk.
"My guess is that they are or else they should," Duncan said.
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