More People Diagnosed with Diabetes at Younger Age
With two-thirds of US adults overweight or obese, the number of people with type 2 diabetes continues to rise while their ages at the time of diagnosis drops, according to a study in the Annals of Family Medicine.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the average age of an adult diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was 52, but now people are being diagnosed in their mid-40s.
This striking drop in age may mean that screening for the disease should begin earlier than is currently recommended, researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina say in their report.
"The age of diagnosis of diabetes has decreased in the United States population by six years," says lead researcher Dr. Richelle J. Koopman, an assistant professor of family medicine. Surprisingly, this decrease occurred in slightly more than 10 years, she adds.
"This reduction in age is bigger than we thought it would be," Dr. Koopman says, "although the reason we did the study was we suspected there might be a difference. But this is a big difference to occur in such a small amount of time."
In their study, Dr. Koopman and her colleagues looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that covered the course of a decade, from 1988 to 2000. The researchers looked at the age when adults 20 and older were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
The researchers found the average age at diagnosis decreased from 52 to 46 years. And the racial and ethnic differences in age at diagnosis seen from 1988 to 1994 were no longer found in the data from 1999 to 2000.
Dr. Koopman believes that one reason type 2 diabetes is being diagnosed earlier is because the criteria for diagnoses have changed.
The American Diabetes Association guidelines have been revised so diabetes is diagnosed at a lower level of blood sugar then before, she notes.
Another reason for earlier diagnoses is that the American Diabetes Association and other groups have alerted physicians to the importance of spotting and treating the blood sugar disease. In addition, there has been increased public awareness of diabetes, Dr. Koopman explains.
"But whatever the reason, if people are getting diabetes six years younger, that might have implications for when we decide to screen people and what the public health burden of diabetes is going to be," Dr. Koopman says.
In addition, more and more people are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in what has been described as an epidemic, she says.
From a public health perspective, Dr. Koopman believes that even more people will be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, increasing medication use and the overall cost to society dramatically.
"In addition, more people will be having other health problems at a younger age," she says.
Type 2 diabetes complications can include heart disease and stroke, kidney damage, nerve damage, and vision problems, including blindness.
Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, called the new research "extremely understated."
Type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult-onset diabetes, is now striking children, due largely to the obesity epidemic, he says.
"The condition is diagnosed routinely in children under the age of 10, as a result of epidemic childhood obesity," Dr. Katz says.
"To see the true decline in the mean age at diagnosis for type 2 diabetes, we need a data set that includes children. The Koopman study conveys news that is none too good. But the reality is, in fact, far worse," Dr. Katz says.
Always consult your physician for more information.
|
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by a failure to produce enough insulin, or, in some cases, body cells do not respond appropriately to the insulin that is produced.
Because insulin is needed by the body to convert glucose into energy, these failures result in abnormally high levels of glucose accumulating in the blood.
Diabetes may be a result of other conditions such as genetic syndromes, chemicals, drugs, malnutrition, infections, viruses, or other illnesses.
The three main types of diabetes - type 1, type 2, and gestational - are all defined as metabolic disorders that affect the way the body metabolizes, or uses, digested food to make glucose, the main source of fuel for the body.
In a condition called prediabetes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be defined as diabetes. However, many people with prediabetes develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years, states the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Prediabetes also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. With modest weight loss and moderate physical activity, people with prediabetes can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes.
How does diabetes affect blood glucose?
For glucose to be able to move into the cells of the body, the hormone insulin must be present. Insulin is produced primarily in the pancreas, and normally is readily available to move glucose into the cells.
However, in persons with diabetes, either the pancreas produces too little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced.
This causes a build-up of glucose in the blood, which passes into the urine where it is eventually eliminated, leaving the body without its main source of fuel.
How do the three main types of diabetes differ?
Although the three main types of diabetes are similar in the build-up of blood glucose due to problems with insulin, there are differences in cause and treatment:
-
type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system destroy the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, resulting in no or a low amount of insulin. People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin daily in order to live.
-
type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a result of the body's inability to make enough, or to properly use, insulin. Type 2 diabetes may be controlled with diet, exercise, and weight loss, or may require oral medications and/or insulin injections.
-
gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women who have not had diagnosed diabetes in the past. It results in the inability to use the insulin that is present and usually disappears after delivery.
Gestational diabetes may be controlled with diet, exercise, and attention to weight gain. Women with gestational diabetes may be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes later in life.
What are the complications of diabetes?
Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death among Americans, and the fifth leading cause of death from disease.
Although it is believed that diabetes is under-reported as a condition leading to or causing death, each year more than 200,000 deaths are reported as being caused by diabetes or its complications.
Complications of diabetes include eye problems and blindness, heart disease, stroke, neurological problems, amputation, and impotence.
Because diabetes (with the exception of gestational diabetes) is a chronic, incurable disease that affects nearly every part of the body, contributes to other serious diseases, and can be life threatening, it must be managed under the care of a physician throughout a person's life.
Always consult your physician for more information.
|
