COVID-19 NEWS
Advances and Answers in Pediatric Health
Type 2 Diabetes in the COVID Era
In 2020 , Megan Kelsey , MD , an endocrinologist at Children ’ s Hospital Colorado , started noticing a worrying pattern . More kids than usual sought care for Type 2 diabetes , and more of those kids were presenting with severe disease . Dr . Kelsey wanted to know if others were experiencing this as well , so she put out a call to colleagues around the country . Some 70 people at 24 different institutions answered .
The group formed a consortium to pool and analyze data on Type 2 diabetes in children from March 2020 through February 2021 . With the help of data analysis completed by Laura Pyle , PhD , Dr . Kelsey and her colleagues identified several interesting trends .
First , the number of cases of Type 2 diabetes during that time period rose by more than 77 % compared to the previous two years . Second , disease severity more than doubled during the studied time period . The team measured disease severity by looking at the proportion of patients who presented in diabetic ketoacidosis or hyperosmolar state , which are considered medical emergencies .
The study ( 1 ) also found that cases of Type 2 diabetes rose among Black youth and fell among non-Hispanic white youth . And in contrast to past research , this study found that more males than females were affected . The data showed that 55 % of those diagnosed were male and 45 % were female .
Dr . Kelsey hopes this research leads to future studies that examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Type 1 diabetes , factors that might have caused the sharp rise in Type 2 diabetes , and whether the increases in rate and severity of youth-onset Type 2 diabetes persist .
While Dr . Kelsey speculates that diet and activity changes during the height of the pandemic may be at least partially responsible for the increase in Type 2 diabetes cases among pediatric patients , she says there are still many avenues to be explored , including a possible link between COVID-19 and diabetes .
She hopes this new data spurs renewed interest in Type 2 childhood diabetes research that could ultimately answer these outstanding questions , improve best practices and treatment , and identify clear risk factors and causes for the disease . Dr . Kelsey is already beginning new work as part of a national study aimed at understanding who is most at risk for developing youth-onset Type 2 diabetes and how to better prevent this disease . •
1 . Magge , Sheela N et al . “ 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 , S0022-3476 ( 22 ) 00719-3 . 16 Aug . 2022 , doi : 10.1016 / j . jpeds . 2022.08.010
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