Regular screening and early intervention are required to prevent pediatric diabetes

Type 2 diabetes, once an adult disease, is a growing health problem among American youth. Research review published in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine suggests that physicians should work to more aggressively prevent pediatric diabetes.

With so few Type 2 diabetes treatment options available, prevention is extremely important. To improve health outcomes, the paper’s authors recommend that physicians routinely screen children and adolescents, take a high level of suspicion, and engage early and often with families who have children at risk for prediabetes and T2 diabetes.

“Pediatric type 2 diabetes is more advanced and aggressive than adult-onset Type 2 diabetes,” said lead author Jay H. Shubrook, DO, a professor and diabetologist at College Touro California University Osteopathic Medicine. “Children need our help, and we are not sounding the alarm loud enough.”

Risk factors

A young person’s metabolism is different than an adult’s metabolism. The liver does not clear insulin at the same rate, and adolescents experience a more rapid decline in β-cell activity – meaning they lose the ability to make enough insulin faster than adults.

For young people who are struggling with weight, diabetes is a major risk factor. Excess weight can lead to insulin resistance, a turning point for the disease. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a national study published in 2018 and again in 2020, found that obesity rates in adolescence were 18.5% and prediabetes was detected in 18% of adolescents.

It is no coincidence that childhood obesity and prediabetes are almost the same. “

Dr. Jay H. Shubrook, Lead Author

Controlling the disease

Childhood obesity is a complex problem that extends beyond a child’s health behaviors.

The Diabetes Association of America recommends consideration of food insecurity, housing instability, and potential financial limitations when working with families to create a plan to control the disease . Stress, isolation, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders should be screened throughout the assessment and treatment process.

“The best chance of slowing adolescent diabetes is for physicians to identify at-risk youth and provide early interventions that emphasize established preventive lifestyle changes on a family, “said Dr. Shubrook. “Osteopathic principles and practice, which incorporate environmental, social, and lifestyle factors into patients in care, support this process.”