LATINO YOUTH HAVE THE FASTEST GROWING RATES OF DIABETES, SAYS STUDY BY THE AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOC

[N'Zinga Shani]

Latino Youth Have the Fastest Growing Rates of Diabetes, Says Study
NBC Latino, Nina Terrero, 06/11/2012

Startling new analysis reveals that Latino youth have the fastest growing rates of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, outpacing other ethnic groups even as diabetes among U.S. youth is at an all-time high.

Using data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study over an eight-year period ending in 2009, researchers affiliated with the American Diabetes Association found that the number of U.S. children and youth under 20 years of age who are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes is growing at an annual rate of about 3 percent - a 23 percent jump over eight years.

The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes among American children under 20 has increased by 33 percent a year, an increase of 21 percent over the course of eight years. The study found that there are 189,000 Americans under 20 years of age with diabetes; of those, 168,000 youth had Type 1 diabetes and over 19,000 were diagnosed with Type 2.

Not all ethnic groups were found to have increased diagnosis of the disease over time. While the study found that Type 2 diabetes was highest among American Indian and non-Hispanic black youth, the rate of diabetes among these groups did not change. However, researchers did find that the proportion of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white youth with Type 2 diabetes was initially low, but increased significantly over time. Hispanic youth had the highest increase of diabetes than any other ethnic group, a finding that study author Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, a professor at the University of Colorado in Denver, found surprising.

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