1 In 5 US Adolescents Now Prediabetic, Study Says

(CNN) — Nearly a quarter of young adults and a fifth of adolescents in the United States have prediabetes, according to a study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Prediabetes — a condition wherein blood sugar levels are elevated, but not high enough to warrant a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes — was estimated at 18% among adolescents ages 12 to 18, and 24% among young adults ages 19 to 34. Experts say these numbers have risen over the past decade, putting young people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other conditions down the line. “Until recently, young children and teens almost never got type 2 diabetes, which is why it used to be called adult-onset diabetes,” says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where most of the new study’s authors are affiliated. “Now, about one-third of American youth are overweight, a problem closely related to the increase in kids with type 2 diabetes, some as young as 10 years old.” Analyzing nearly 5,800 individuals included in a national health survey from 2005 to 2016, the study authors found that “the prevalence of prediabetes in male individuals was almost twice that in female individuals” — 22.5% vs. 13.4% in adolescents and 29.1% vs. 18.8% in young adults. Prediabetes was also more common among young people with obesity, which is also closely linked to Type 2 diabetes in adults. More than a quarter of obese adolescents and mo...
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