Body Weight, Diabetes Gain In Kids
We’ve noted over the last couple of weeks how overweight and obesity in children — a dangerous medical condition already on the increase for decades in the United States — has rocketed upward during the pandemic. One of the serious health consequences of overweight and obesity is type 2 diabetes. A new study published in JAMA last month found that from 2001 to 2017, the incidence of type 2 diabetes practically doubled in children ages 10 and older. (As you can see in the graphic above, cases of type 1 diabetes, which is more common in children and typically not a result of abnormal weight gain, also increased. Type 2 diabetes is much more common in adults.)
The study found that Black and Hispanic youth saw the biggest increase in type 2 diabetes. The rise coincides with a decades-long epidemic of overweight and obesity in the U.S.:
Black and Mexican American teenagers experienced the greatest increase in prevalence of obesity/severe obesity from 1999 to 2018, which may contribute to race and ethnicity differences. Other contributing factors may include increases in exposure to maternal obesity and diabetes (gestational and type 2 diabetes) and exposure to environmental chemicals.
Public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed alarm at the findings:
“Increases in diabetes are always troubling – especially in youth. Rising rates of diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, which is preventable, has the potential to create a cascade of poor health outcomes,” said, Giuseppina Imperatore, MD, PhD, chief of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, Economics, and Statistics Branch in CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation. “Compared to people who develop diabetes in adulthood, youth are more likely to develop diabetes complications at an earlier age and are at higher risk of premature death.”
The study’s author told Maria Marabito that she has similar concerns about more children being at risk for developing debilitating diabetes-related complications as they enter adulthood:
“Type 2 diabetes in youth is associated with obesity, exposure to maternal diabetes and obesity during pregnancy, family history and genetics,” Lawrence said. “Health care providers can play an important role in helping children, adolescents and their families learn about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.”
The CDC estimates that more than 42% of American adults have BMIs placing them in the obese range, with nearly 10% severely obese. We learned last week that the prevalence of obesity in children is 22.4% — three percentage points higher than at the beginning of the pandemic. The CDC also estimates that 34.2 million Americans — just over 1 in 10 — have diabetes. Those are big numbers in terms of lives and livelihoods damaged and lost.
Learn more from the CDC about preventing type 2 diabetes and its complications here.
source http://www.thepediablog.com/2021/09/30/body-weight-diabetes-gain-in-kids/
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