The longer a person has diabetes, the greater the chances of developing the disabling, life-threatening complications of diabetes. "We are seeing young people in their late teens who are already developing the complications of type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Kaufman.
Type 2 diabetes in children, as in adults, is closely linked to obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and a family history of diabetes. The prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled in adolescents in the past 20 years. According to The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, 13 percent of children 6 to 11 years old and 14 percent of adolescents 12 to 19 years old in the United States were overweight in 1999. Overweight children are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes during childhood and later in life. Genetic susceptibility as well as lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating patterns all play important roles in determining a child's weight. They also contribute to a child's risk for type 2 diabetes and other complications of overweight.
About 16 million people in the United States have diabetes. It is the main cause of kidney failure, limb amputations, and new onset blindness in adults and a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Type 2 diabetes accounts for up to 95 percent of all diabetes cases. Most common in adults over age 40, this form of diabetes affects 8 percent of the U.S. population age 20 and older. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has tripled in the last 30 years, due in large part to the upsurge in obesity. People who are obese, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater have a five-fold greater risk of diabetes than those with a normal BMI of 25 or less.
Type 1 diabetes affects about 1 million people in the United States. This form of diabetes develops when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic beta cells, the only cells in the body that make the hormone insulin, which regulates blood glucose. Type 1 diabetes usually strikes children and young adults, who need several insulin injections a day or an insulin pump to survive. Insulin is the only treatment for type 1 diabetes, but it is not a cure, nor can it reliably prevent the long-term complications of the disease.
