Increased Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes in Youth Populations in the U.S.

Another possible consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic: an alarming increase in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in a youth population. The past decade has already followed the trend of an increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes.1 According to a recent analysis of the TODAY study, higher than expected new cases were seen along with an alarming increase in the incidence of associated complications.2

The multicenter, hospital-based, retrospective chart review study of data captured between March 2018 and February 2021, included 3113 patients aged ≤ 21 years with newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes. New cases increased by 77.2% in the year during the pandemic (n=1463) compared with the mean of the previous 2 years, 2019 (n=886) and 2018 (n=765). The likelihood of presenting with metabolic decompensation and severe diabetic ketoacidosis also increased significantly during the pandemic.

It is unclear if these findings were associated with environmental factors, COVID infection, exogenously administered agents, or psychological stressors incurred during the pandemic. If the associations are true, the negative impact may also be further compounded by pandemic-induced economical conditions including unemployment and current increases in food and housing costs.

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References:

1. Mayer-Davis EJ, Lawrence JM, Dabelea D, Divers J, Isom S, Dolan L, Imperatore G, Linder B, Marcovina S, Pettitt DJ, Pihoker C, Saydah S, Wagenknecht L; SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Incidence Trends of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes among Youths, 2002-2012. N Engl J Med. 2017 Apr 13;376(15):1419-1429. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1610187. PMID: 28402773; PMCID: PMC5592722.

2. Magge SN, Wolf RM, Pyle L, Brown EA, Benavides VC, Bianco ME, Chao LC, Cymbaluk A, Gumus Balikcioglu P, Halpin K, Hsia DS, Huerta-Saenz L, Kim JJ, Kumar S, Levitt Katz LE, Marks BE, Neyman A, O’Sullivan KL, Sasidharan Pillai S, Shah AS, Shoemaker AH, Siddiqui JAW, Srinivasan S, Thomas IH, Tryggestad JB, Yousif MF, Kelsey MM, on behalf of the COVID-19 and Type 2 Diabetes Consortium, The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with a substantial rise in frequency and severity of presentation of youth-onset type 2 diabetes, The Journal of Pediatrics (2022), doi: https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.08.010.

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Link to Primary Article:

https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(22)00719-3/fulltext