New diagnoses of type 2 diabetes in US youth rose 77% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic over the previous 2 years, according to a new multicenter study published in the Journal of Pediatrics.A team led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers retrospectively reviewed the records of 3,113 COVID-19 patients 8 to 21 years at 24 US hospitals who had a new type 2 diabetes diagnosis and a body-mass index (BMI) in the 85th percentile (overweight or obese) from March 2018 to February 2021.Average patient age was 14.4 years, 50.5% were girls, 40.4% were Hispanic, 32.7% were Black, and 14.5% were White.
Few patients were also diagnosed as having COVID-19 at hospitalization.The researchers said it was the first multicenter study on type 2 diabetes rates in youth amid the pandemic in the United States.
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disorder that occurs when cells do not respond properly to insulin, which increases the need for insulin and causes glucose to build up in the blood, which can lead to complications such as heart disease, kidney failure, nerve damage, and blindness.Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include female sex, overweight, family history of diabetes, insulin resistance, and Black, Indigenous, or other minority race.
The biggest factor, though, is obesity in the United States, where nearly one of every three children are overweight.More patients had severe diabetesFrom Mar 1, 2020, to Feb 28, 2021, new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes rose by 1,463 patients (77.2%), compared with the average of the previous 2 years (886 in 2019 and 765 in 2018).