Adult-type diabetes increasingly strikes obese kids
Manning, A. (1999, June 21). Adult-type diabetes increasingly strikes obese kids. USA Today, pp. 1D-2D.
OVERVIEW
According to Robin Goland of the Columbia Presbyterian Center in New York, there are two types of diabetes, and the adult type is increasingly appearing in children:
Five to 10 years ago, virtually all diabetes in the pediatric age group was Type 1 (insulin-dependent most often beginning in children of normal weight at about the age of 12).
Type 2 diabetes, which affects 90% of the nearly 16 million Americans with diabetes, typically begins in the 40s or 50s and is associated with obesity. Excess body fat promotes insulin resistance, in which the body doesn’t use insulin efficiently.
Goland’s study was one of four reaching the same conclusion. The others were two Canadian studies and one at the University of California, San Diego. Goland commented on her findings (from a study of 21 children, 10-17, all overweight and all but one with a strong family history of diabetes):
Twenty percent of pediatric patients with (newly diagnosed) diabetes are Type 2. That’s a big change. Figuring out why this is happening is a huge public health issue because diabetes, if undiagnosed or poorly controlled, has significant complications.
The complications referred to are blindness, kidney failure, heart attack and stroke. Goland warns that we may see these complications in younger and younger children.
Most of the 21 children studied by Goland were from minority groups and all had a characteristic skin lesion called acanthosis nigricans, "a velvety black raised area on the back of the neck or in skin folds, which is associated with insulin resistance."
(This mark is) unusual in adults, but more frequently observed in children. Based on our findings, I would consider screening overweight kids with a family history of diabetes or this skin condition. I’m worried that we’re not catching enough of them.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
- Do you consider this an important public health issue? How are serious public health risks to be determined?
- Have you had experience with diabetes or been with someone who has? What have you learned and what is your main concern?
- Do you think improving children’s general health is an important deterrent to diseases like diabetes?
IMPLICATIONS
- Because some diseases get most of the attention, others may be less noted and under-treated and prevented.
- Those who teach or work with children and young people should be aware of diseases sometimes not disclosed or not even known about.
