Type 2 Diabetes Isn’t Just A Disease For The Elderly Anymore
Type 2 diabetes used to be considered a disease of our grandparents, but now more and more children are getting the disease, some of them as young as four. Many doctors, who were taught in their training that children don’t get the disease, often misdiagnose their condition as Type 1 diabetes, according to an article on msnbc.com.
Previously Type 2 diabetes usually affected only older, overweight adults, who were told by their doctors to lose weight, watch their diets to control high blood sugar or glucose level and take oral medication if necessary.
Previously Type 1 diabetes struck during childhood and was called “child-onset” diabetes. Type 1 diabetics have to take insulin daily because their bodies don’t produce enough of the hormone. They also need to exercise and control their diet.
The disease itself has changed. Often Type 2 diabetics eventually need to inject insulin. Type 2 diabetics have bodies that don’t produce enough insulin, or the insulin doesn’t work properly.
A total of 16 million Americans have diabetes, mostly Type 2, but that total will jump to 22 million by 2,025, according to Dr. James Gavin, a senior scientific officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He called the disease, “explosive.”
Dr. Kenneth Lee Jones, professor of pediatrics and diabetes specialist at the University of California in San Diego, said Type 2 diabetes used to be considered a condition “of our grandparents,” but that is no longer the case. He said at a news conference on diabetes held by the American Diabetes Association and the American Medical Association that many pediatricians and family doctors aren’t aware that children are now developing the disease.
Doctors may therefore diagnose a Type 2 diabetic child with Type 1 diabetes and prescribe long-term insulin injections. Type 2 diabetics may initially need insulin injections to control high glucose levels, but they probably only need them temporarily. Later they can take an oral medication instead, such as metformin, the only oral medication approved specifically for children.
Unnecessary insulin injections may be painful for children. They may also cause the Type 2 diabetic children, who are usually already overweight, to gain even more weight.
Children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, who have Type 2 instead, may not be tested for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Those conditions are associated with Type 2 diabetes.
Symptoms of diabetes include extreme thirst, frequent urination, fatigue and weight loss. A blood test can show the presence of the disease.
Another blood test can measure antibodies against insulin. The presence of antibodies demonstrates the disease is Type 1, but only 70 percent of children with the disease will have detectable antibodies. There may not be a definite way to diagnose the other 30 percent, but a family history of diabetes, weight loss and glucose levels that are especially difficult to control may be indicators.
Children with Type 2 diabetes are usually overweight and have a family history of the condition. They may also have Acanthosis nigricians, a condition that causes dark pigmentation in the neck and underarms.
Dr. Jones said that about 10 years ago some doctors started to notice what appeared to be Type 2 diabetes in obese Mexican-American and African American children, according to an article in unisci.com. The children had family members who also had diabetes.
“When we treated them for Type 1 diabetes, the only diabetes previously recognized in children, their response was different from the typical child with Type 1, who is insulin dependent, “ Dr. Jones said at an American Medical Association briefing on advances in diabetes care and treatment.
“As a nation we are all getting obese, and it is starting in childhood,” Dr. Jones said. “One of the major consequences of this is that more and more of our children will develop Type 2 diabetes.”
He said it is a “major public health problem” and lifestyle changes need to be made. He compared it to the problem the country has with lung cancer and smoking. He said changes need to be made in how we eat, what we eat, the amount we eat and how much we exercise.
Dr. Jones also said doctors need to find out if the same medications used and treatments for adults with Type 2 diabetes will work with adults. Metformin was frequently used for adults in the past. He believes many of the same drugs and treatments for adults with the disease will work with children.
The problem isn’t unique to America. According to an article on docguide.com, Type 2 diabetes has been detected in children in the United Kingdom. Pediatricians from five hospitals provided data. Eight girls were diagnosed with the disease. All were overweight and had a family history of the disease.
According to an article in the Knight Ridder/Tribune, another problem diabetic children face is taunting or heckling from peers who may call them “diabetic, diabetic,” without knowing what the word means. They often may not understand why other children can eat ice cream or other treats when they can’t.
At the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, California, children with Type 1 diabetes were formerly the majority of patients there. They now have 900-1,000 patients with diabetes, and 60 percent have Type 2.
According to findings form the Center for Disease Control’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey more and more children and teens are overweight. Overweight children not only are at higher rise for diabetes but also cardiovascular diseases and other serious health problems. Diabetics also have a higher risk of kidney, eye and nerve damage. They also face the danger of losing a limb or foot.
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