| Summary: | Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a widespread metabolic disorder that continues to grow in prevalence both in the United States and worldwide. T2DM is an immense public health crisis and has been declared an epidemic by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. T2DM is a heterogeneous disease that is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia that is caused by dysfunction of the insulin transduction pathway. Particularly in T2DM, individuals with the disease experience a progressive loss of insulin production by pancreatic β cells in the setting of peripheral insulin resistance. Due to the dysfunction of insulin’s actions, glucose in circulation is unable to enter insulin’s target cells and remains in the bloodstream.
Formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, T2DM has recently become more commonplace in youthful populations, particularly in adolescents during puberty. Several risk factors have been identified for T2DM, which defines a population of study to determine the underlying pathogenesis of T2DM and possible therapeutic interventions. While extensive research on T2DM has been performed, the heterogeneous nature of the disease makes it difficult to understand the relationship between genetic susceptibility and environmental triggers.
The trend of reaching younger populations is extremely worrying as the loss of glycemic control in T2DM is associated with various medical complications. The most commonly seen complications in T2DM include neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease. These complications come with a significant burden that greatly increases mortality and reduces one’s quality of life. One of the underlying causes of the growing prevalence of youth-onset T2DM is the growing pediatric obese population. The increasing prevalence of pediatric obesity, in turn, is likely tied to adolescents getting less sleep, having diets high in carbohydrates, and having insufficient physical activity.
Compared to T2DM that precipitates later in life, youth-onset T2DM appears to have a more aggressive nature, where glycemic control is quickly lost, and complications arise sooner in the disease course than adults. Unfortunately, compared to the various drug classes available to adults, options for youths with T2DM are limited. Currently, the only pharmacologic therapies available to youths are metformin and insulin and given that youths quickly lose metabolic control, new therapies are desperately needed to combat this epidemic. Lifestyle interventions are also widely used in pediatric populations, but success with lifestyle monotherapy is limited. Adherence to treatment plans is a barrier to positive outcomes in youthful populations, which may be improved by having patients and their families attend diabetes education programs. The aggressive nature of youth-onset T2DM and the limited amount of available therapies make it difficult to maintain control diabetes in this youthful population, which is concerning given the huge costs associated with diabetes for both individuals and health care systems. To combat this epidemic of youth-onset T2DM, aggressive monitoring is needed to identify high-risk populations and to prevent and delay T2DM in these populations. Reducing the prevalence of youth-onset T2DM will require efforts to increase the physical activity of youths and to reduce the consumption of foods that greatly increase blood sugar. Additionally, efforts should be made to ensure that youths are getting adequate amounts of sleep. Bariatric surgery has been demonstrated positive results in remission of T2DM in youths, but such an invasive procedure may be an extreme solution in a vulnerable population.
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