There are two main types of diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure. Type 1 diabetes tends to run in families. …
DIABETES FACTS
DIABETES IN YOUTH
What Is Diabetes?
There are 182 million people or 63 of the population in the United
States who have diabetes There are two main types of diabetes Type 1,
which usually occurs during childhood or adolescence, and type 2, the most
common form of the disease, which usually occurs after age 45, but is
increasingly being diagnosed in children and adolescents
Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure It is the fifth-deadliest
disease in the United States; this year, diabetes will contribute to the
deaths of more than 210,000 Americans
The total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2002 was estimated to be 132
billion, or one out of every 10 health care dollars spent in the United
States
There are an estimated 850,000 to 17 million people with type 1 diabetes
in the United States today
Type 1 Diabetes in Youth
The risk of developing type 1 diabetes is higher than virtually all other
severe chronic diseases of childhood
Peak incidence occurs during puberty, around 10 to 12 years of age in girls
and 12 to 14 years of age in boys
Type 1 diabetes tends to run in families Brothers and
sisters of children
with type 1 diabetes have about a 10 chance of developing the disease by
age 50
The identical twin of a person with type 1 diabetes has a 25-50 higher
chance of developing type 1 diabetes than a child in an unaffected family
There is a higher incidence of type 1 diabetes in Caucasians than in other
racial groups
The symptoms of type 1 diabetes can mimic the flu in children
Type 2 Diabetes in Youth
Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder resulting from the bodys inability
to make enough or properly use insulin A growing number of children and
adolescents are developing type 2 diabetes - a form of diabetes that is
generally diagnosed among adults Type 2 diabetes commonly occurs in
children who are:
Overweight: As many as 80 of youth may be overweight at the time of
diagnosis
Older than 10 years of age and are in middle to late puberty; but cases
of type 2 diabetes in children as young as four years old have been
documented
Have a family history of type 2 diabetes
Is a member of a certain racial/ethnic group African Americans,
Hispanic/Latino and Native American descent
As the US population becomes increasingly overweight,
researchers
expect type 2 diabetes to appear more frequently in younger, pre-
pubescent children
Since type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents is a relatively new
phenomenon, accurate statistics regarding the number of cases have not
been generated However, recent reports indicate that 8-45 of children
with newly-diagnosed diabetes have type 2 diabetes
What Are the Complications of Diabetes?
The complications of diabetes include heart disease, stroke, vision
loss/blindness, amputation and kidney disease
Cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis excess buildup on the
inner wall of a large blood vessel, restricting the flow of blood accounts
for approximately 25 percent of deaths among patients with onset of
diabetes before 20 years of age
Blindness due to diabetic retinopathy Diabetic retinopathy is a more
important cause of visual impairment in younger-onset people than in older-
onset people Males with younger-onset diabetes develop retinopathy more
rapidly than females with younger-onset diabetes
Kidney disease due to diabetic nephropathy Ten to twenty-one percent of
all people with diabetes develop kidney disease Diabetic nephropathy is
the
leading cause of end-stage renal disease ESRD, or kidney failure,
accounting for 43 percent of new cases ESRD requires the patient to
undergo dialysis or kidney transplantation in order to live In people
with type 1 diabetes who develop proteinuria protein in the urine, ESRD
or death usually follows after about 5-10 years
Diabetic ketoacidosis DKA is one of the most serious outcomes of poorly
controlled diabetes, and primarily occurs in type 1 individuals DKA is
marked by high blood glucose levels along with ketones in the urine DKA
is responsible for about 10 percent of diabetes-related deaths in
individuals with diabetes under age 45
For more information in English or Spanish, contact the American
Diabetes Association at
1-800-DIABETES 1-800-342-2383, or visit our Web site at wwwdiabetesorg
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