Type 2 diabetes in children: recognition and complications

Prevalence The epidemiology of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in adolescents in the USA and world­ wide has been reviewed multiple times [1–3]. These reviews confirm the rise in the global inci ­ dence of T2DM in children and adolescents over the last two decades and suggest a close relation­ ship between an increase in obesity in the general population, an increase in the rate of T2DM in adults and the later appearance of the disorder in adolescents [2]. There have been few recent population ­ based studies of Type 2 diabetes in adolescents since these reviews were published. The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study is a six ­ center population ­ based ascertainment of physician ­ diagnosed diabetes in adolescents of less than 20 years of age in the USA. Among older adolescents, the proportion of T2DM ranged from 6% of new cases of diabetes (0.19 cases per 1000 adolescents for non ­ Hispanic white adoles­ cents) to 76% (1.74 cases per 1000 adolescents for American–Indian adolescents) [4].