Youth With Type 2 Diabetes at Risk for Early Death

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research reveals developing type 2 diabetes before age 20 significantly increases the risk of end-stage kidney disease and death between ages 25 and 55.

The diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in children has been increasing as obesity in children also rises. The new report from the National Institutes of Health looked at the impact of age when type 2 diabetes developed in young and middle-aged American Indians; kidney disease is very common in this population.

The research was done between 1965 and 2002. Study participants were divided into two groups -- those with youth-onset type 2 diabetes (younger than 20 years old) and those who had older-onset type 2 diabetes (between 20 and 55 years old).

Among the 1,856 diabetic participants, 96 had youth-onset type 2 diabetes. Researchers found 25 cases of end stage kidney disease per 1,000 person years in youth-onset diabetes and 5.4 cases per 1,000 person years in older-onset diabetes.

Results also show the death rate from natural causes between ages 25 and 55 was 15.4 deaths per 1,000 person years in the youth-onset diabetes group and 7.3 deaths per 1,000 person years in those with older-onset diabetes. Compared with non diabetics, the death rate was three times as high in the youth-onset group and 1.4- times as high in those with older-onset diabetes.

"The longer duration of diabetes mellitus by middle age in individuals diagnosed younger than age 20 years largely accounts for these outcomes," write the authors. "Because youth-onset diabetes mellitus leads to substantially increased complication rates and mortality in middle age, efforts should focus on preventing or delaying the onset of diabetes, delaying the onset of diabetic nephropathy, or both."

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SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006;296:421-426