Rate of diabetes in the young on rise

More and more children are developing Type II Diabetes. Doctors originally tried treating young patients the same way they care for adults, but a new study shows that the traditional therapy doesn't work as well.

Sara Chernov was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes when she was 16. That's not the sort of thing that should happen to a youngster.

"It's definitely troubling for anybody dealing with a chronic disease; to keep yourself on track, especially when you go through the phases of denial and understanding that this is a chronic disease," Chernov said.

We're in the midst of an epidemic of Type II Diabetes in children and adolescents - a direct result of the even larger epidemic of childhood obesity. And in youngsters, the diabetes is harder to treat.

Dr. Robin Goland explained, "Historically, childhood diabetes has not been Type II Diabetes, so very little is known about the right way to both prevent it and to treat it."

Dr. Goland was one of the authors of a report just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They studied 699 Type II diabetics aged 10 to 17. Some were treated with Metformin the drug most commonly used to lower blood sugar in adults, but in 52 percent, Metformin alone failed to achieve good regulation.

Another group received Metformin plus Rosiglitazone, or Avandia, that worked better, but still failed in almost 40 percent.

"Treating diabetes in children and adolescents appears to require in many of the children, two drugs, right off the bat," Dr. Goland said.

But Avandia treatment in adults has been linked to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

Dr. Goland added, "We want them to grow up and have healthy lives and not be having heart attacks and strokes at terribly young ages."

And now, many young Type II diabetics, like Chernov, need insulin.

She said, "The insulin is helping me regulate my blood sugar even more."

"If we could prevent them from getting diabetes, that would be far preferable than being in the position of treating it," stated Dr. Goland.

And it can be prevented if we can prevent kids from becoming overweight. Years ago, most kids didn't have to make lifestyle choices to avoid obesity - they are less and they were more active. Now, we have to somehow get back to that or face the terrible complication of diabetes in young people.

The Catholic Health System has a program to help called "Synergy Bariatrics." It provides free nutrition and eating right classes. You can learn more by calling 565-3990.

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Peter Ostrow