Print“Historically, type l diabetes has been considered a disease that affects primarily white youth; however, our findings highlight the increasing burden of type l diabetes experienced by youth of minority racial/ethnic groups as well, the authors write.”
Not that long ago, diabetes in children was rare, but that is no longer the case. A new study that includes data from more than three million youth under the age of 19 reveals that the prevalence of both type1 and type 2 diabetes grew significantly between 2001 and 2009.
Though concern has grown that the incidence of diabetes among children and adolescents has been rising, trend data has been limited. The study, part of the ongoing Search for Diabetes in Youth Study, examined whether the overall prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes among U.S. youth has changed in recent years, and whether it changed by sex, age, and race/ethnicity.
The analysis, just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at cases of physician-diagnosed type 1 diabetes in youth ages 0 through 19 years and type 2 diabetes in youth 10 through 19 years of age in 2001 and in 2009. The study population came from five centers located in California, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina, and Washington, as well as data from selected American Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.
The prevalence of type 1 diabetes among the study population of 3.3 million individuals increased 21 percent over the 8-year period. The greatest prevalence increase was observed in youth 15 through 19 years of age. Increases were observed in both sexes and in white, black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific Islander youth.
“Historically, type l diabetes has been considered a disease that affects primarily white youth; however, our findings highlight the increasing burden of type l diabetes experienced by youth of minority racial/ethnic groups as well,” the study’s authors write.
The overall prevalence of type 2 diabetes for youth ages 10 to 19 years increased by an estimated 30.5 percent between 2001 and 2009 (among a population of 1.7 million youth in 2001 and 1.8 million youth in 2009). The increases occurred in white, Hispanic, and black youth, whereas no changes were found in Asian Pacific Islander and American Indian youth. A significant increase was seen in both sexes and all age groups.
“The increases in prevalence reported herein are important because such youth with diabetes will enter adulthood with several years of disease duration, difficulty in treatment, an increased risk of early complications, and increased frequency of diabetes during reproductive years, which may further increase diabetes in the next generation,” write the researchers. The say further studies are needed to determine the causes of the increases.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
May 04, 2014
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-study_finds_significant_increase_in_diabetes_among_u_s_youth.html
