Kids Headed for Diabetes Disaster
But Healthy Diet, Exercise Can Ease Problem in Many
June 17, 2002 -- More and more children are developing type 2 diabetes, and a new study suggests they will suffer devastating health problems as a result.
Until recently, type 2 diabetes was known as "adult onset diabetes" because it was unheard of in children. But just over 20 years ago, doctors began to see it in kids, as well. And in the last 10 years, researchers have seen a four-fold increase among children -- largely due to the rising number of overweight and obese kids.
Now, the consequences are becoming clear. At the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco, researchers reported on the first-ever study of type 2 diabetic adults who were diagnosed in childhood.
Having uncontrolled high blood sugar from diabetes can have damaging effects on the body. Over the years, it can lead to heart attacks and strokes at an early age, blindness, foot and leg amputations, and kidney failure -- requiring dialysis.
The researchers looked at 51 young adults aged 18-33 who'd been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before age 17. In the years since they'd been diagnosed, seven of them had died -- two were young women who experienced sudden death while on dialysis. Three others were also on kidney dialysis and one of these was blind. One woman had a toe amputation. The women in the group had 56 pregnancies -- but 21 ended in miscarriage.
These rates of death and disease are far higher than in the general population, said University of Manitoba pediatrician Heather Dean, MD, who presented the findings. She cautioned that not all children with type 2 diabetes will necessarily suffer so much. The patients in the Manitoba study were all Native Americans whose health is worse in some respects than other groups (for example, a high percentage of the patients smoked.) Also, the Manitoba doctors are already getting better at catching and treating the disease among kids.
But at a press conference preceding Dean's presentation, University of Florida pediatrician Janet Silverstein, MD, warned that type 2 diabetes will certainly take a toll on the children who have it throughout the world. "They are at risk for [heart attack and stroke]. I think the cost on society will be huge."