DIABETES: Experts Call for Type 2 Screening in Obese Kids
To curb an "emerging epidemic" among the nation's youth, health care providers should start testing at-risk children for Type 2 diabetes, according to an expert panel's recommendations, USA Today reports. Members of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Diabetes Association will make their recommendations public today. While Type 2 diabetes usually strikes overweight adults over age 45, the jump in the number of children diagnosed with the disease has "paralleled a rise in youth obesity." Panel Chair Arlan Rosenbloom said that nearly 85% of Type 2 diabetes cases among children occur in those who are overweight. Richard Kahn of the ADA said that while Type 2 diabetes was "virtually unheard of" in young children 10 years ago, as many as 300,000 children now are afflicted with the ailment, accounting for about 20% of all new childhood diabetes cases. The panel recommends testing overweight children who have any two other risk factors, which include: family history of the disease, high cholesterol or blood pressure and "minority race or ethnicity." Rosenbloom noted that minorities are at higher risk for Type 2 diabetes than whites (Elias, 2/22).
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