Type 2 diabetes used to be called adult-onset diabetes, but it is increasingly common in children and teens. There’s relatively little information available to guide doctors in treating them. New research from the New England Journal of Medicine compared three different treatment regimens in youngsters between 10 and 17 years old. All groups were given the diabetes drug metformin; two groups received additional treatment, either Avandia or lifestyle interventions. The goal was to control blood sugar and reduce HbA1c to at least 8%.
Only about half the children were able to get good blood sugar control with metformin. Adding Avandia to metformin produced modest improvement. The diet and exercise counseling gave intermediate results, not significantly different from either of the other treatment groups.
Experts admit that these results are quite disappointing. Diabetes increases the risk of many serious complications, including kidney or heart disease, infertility or amputations. The longer a person has diabetes, the more worrisome the risk becomes. The results of the current study suggest to some pediatricians that more community efforts are needed to address the rising rates of obesity in young people to prevent type 2 diabetes in the first place.
