Teenage Diabetes In The United States More Widespread Than Previously Thought

There are more teenagers in the United States that are diagnosed with diabetes than previously reported, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study looked into the prevalence of diabetes, the percentage of those unaware that they had it and the prevalence of prediabetes in American adolescents.

"The estimates are higher than previously reported; 1 study found diagnosed diabetes in 0.34 percent of participants aged 10 to 19 years," according to the authors of the study, as per EurekAlert. The current study found that the prevalence of diabetes among teenagers in the United States was 0.8 percent.

Diabetes Statistics Among Teenagers

Medical News Today reported that there were 2,606 teenagers that were part of the diabetes study. Among these, 62 teenagers had been diagnosed with diabetes, 20 teenagers were undiagnosed, while 512 teenagers had prediabetes. The report said that this condition occurs when someone has high blood glucose levels but not high enough to have diabetes.

The researchers found that 29 percent of diabetes of the teenagers in the study were undiagnosed. Additionally, 18 percent of the teenagers in the study had prediabetes. This condition was more common in male teenagers than female teenagers.

Diabetes In Young People

"These findings are important because diabetes in youth is associated with early onset of risk factors and complications," said lead researcher Andy Menke, as per Health Day News posted in Web MD. Menke is from Social & Scientific Systems in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, was quoted as saying that the incidence of diabetes found was "alarming" because it should be close to zero. Zonszein added that it was "disturbing" that various studies reveal a high incidence and prevalence of both prediabetes and diabetes in young people.