Alarming increase in Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes among adolescents age 12 to 19
May 21, 2012, New York Daily News, Heidi Evans
Diabetes and pre-diabetes rates are soaring among America’s teens, according to a new federal study.
The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that the percentage of adolescents age 12 to 19 with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes nearly tripled from 9% in 1999 to 23% in 2008.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey tracked about 3,400 adolescents with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, which involves abnormally high blood sugar. Both conditions are risk factors for heart disease.
“Fifteen years ago, I never saw Type 2 diabetes in children, only in people in their 60s and older,” said Dr. Robin Goland, co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
“Now I see kids 8 and 10 and 13. The fact that we have any number is a disgrace.”
Goland said the uptick is linked “as day follows night” to an increase in obesity among young people.
“This is a huge problem of enormous significance,” she added.
Because diabetes is not a reportable disease, there are no precise statistics on how many children or adults suffer from it. There are only estimates…
Read the rest of the article via Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study finds an alarming increase in Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes among adolescents age 12 to 19 – NY Daily News.
