IN ATLANTA — Researchers predict that if current trends continue, there may be an increase of up to 65% in young persons with type 1 diabetes and a nearly 675% increase in type 2 diabetes cases in the United States among those under the age of 20.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body doesn't use insulin as it should, has "substantially increased" in this age group over the past 20 years. Type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreas produces little to no insulin, is more prevalent in young people in the U.S.
The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth research, which is supported by the CDC and the National Institutes of Health, provided the data for the new study, which was published this month in the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care.
The researchers discovered that the number of young individuals with either form of diabetes will increase 12% from 213,000 to 239,000 if incidence rates from 2017 were to remain constant over the following decades. But if the rate of occurrence keeps increasing as swiftly as it did between 2002 and 2017, 526,000 young individuals could get diabetes by 2060.
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is predicted to be higher among young individuals who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American/Alaska Native, and than White people.
According to the CDC, there may be a number of reasons for the sharp rise in type 2 diabetes rates that are anticipated, including increased childhood obesity rates and diabetes among women who are capable of having children.
Diabetes patients run the risk of developing consequences like nerve damage, eye and hearing issues, kidney disease, heart disease, and early death. The researchers caution that the condition might progress more swiftly in children than in adults, necessitating earlier medical attention. The demand for American health care systems could rise as a result, driving up expenses.
"We should all use this new information as a wake-up call. We must concentrate our efforts on ensuring that all Americans, especially our young people, are in the best possible health "In a statement, Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC's principal deputy director in interim status, stated.
The findings were deemed "alarming" by Christopher Holliday, director of the agency's Division of Diabetes Translation.
The study's unexpected forecasts of a rise in type 2 diabetes demonstrate the need to improve health equity and lessen the pervasive gaps that currently have a negative impact on people's health, he said in a statement.
