EASD: Cardiovascular Risk Factors Prevalent in Type 2 Diabetic Adolescents

Adolescents and young adults with type 2 diabetes are more likely to have hypertension, generalized obesity, abdominal obesity, low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides and microalbuminuria, than their non-diabetic counterparts.

That’s according to new data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Case-Control Study, reported at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Rome.

The topic of cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetic youth is "an important one," Dr. Dana Dabelea, from the University of Colorado Denver, who presented the data, stated. "There has been a paucity of controlled data in this young population regarding cardiovascular risk factors and their possible determinants," she added.

"We believe that our data support the statement that early prevention and treatment strategies aimed at reducing the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in youth with type 2 are needed," Dr. Dabelea said.

Among 331 multi-ethnic subjects aged 10 to 22 years, the prevalence of hypertension (defined as a BP at the 95th percentile) was significantly higher in the 116 with type 2 diabetes than in the 215 controls (27% vs 5%).

Those with type 2 diabetes also had significantly higher age- and race/ethnicity-adjusted prevalence of obesity (BMI 95th percentile: 86% vs 26%), large waist circumference (90th percentile: 82% vs 22%); low HDL cholesterol (35 mg/dL or lower: 25% vs 5%); high triglycerides (150 mg/dL: 27% vs 6%), and high urinary albumin:creatinine ratio (30 g/mg: 17% vs 7%).

"Although the results are not totally unexpected, they are novel for this young age group, they are based on a well-designed case-control study, and cover a large range of risk factors — both classical and more novel," Dr. Dabelea noted.
A manuscript of the study is currently under review by Diabetes Care.

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DID YOU KNOW:

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