Type 2 diabetes is more often than not associated with adults but a recent press release highlights the growing number of children being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The study, which has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine also highlights concerns that medication usually given for Type 2 diabetes in adults isn't effective in children.
Terri H. Lipman, Phd, and CRNP of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing worked as co-investigator on the study. She said:
“Increases in childhood obesity have yielded an increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes in children."
“It is important to understand that the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in youth is secondary to high caloric intake and low activity. Both of these causes are a result of a multitude of socioeconomic factors that include food deserts and lack of safe places for activity.”
As part of the research, nearly 700 children were analysed. The children were aged between 10-17 and all had a recent diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. 46 per cent of the children were being treated with metformin, an oral drug used for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in adults. However, it was found that metformin wasn't enough stabilise the blood sugar levels of children and many of them had to begin insulin therapy within a year.
Experts say that a surge in the number of children with Type 2 diabetes first began in the nineties. The children involved in the study were all given diabetes education to try and help them regain control of their condition, and the study was carried out with the aim of helping to find more suitable treatments for children with Type 2 diabetes, which, as the study leader points out, is a preventable disease.
Terri H. Lipman, Phd, and CRNP of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing worked as co-investigator on the study. She said:
“Increases in childhood obesity have yielded an increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes in children."
“It is important to understand that the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in youth is secondary to high caloric intake and low activity. Both of these causes are a result of a multitude of socioeconomic factors that include food deserts and lack of safe places for activity.”
As part of the research, nearly 700 children were analysed. The children were aged between 10-17 and all had a recent diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. 46 per cent of the children were being treated with metformin, an oral drug used for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in adults. However, it was found that metformin wasn't enough stabilise the blood sugar levels of children and many of them had to begin insulin therapy within a year.
Experts say that a surge in the number of children with Type 2 diabetes first began in the nineties. The children involved in the study were all given diabetes education to try and help them regain control of their condition, and the study was carried out with the aim of helping to find more suitable treatments for children with Type 2 diabetes, which, as the study leader points out, is a preventable disease.
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