Though diabetes mellitus is more common in old age , children also develop diabetes due to various reasons.
8 most common risk factors of diabetes mellitus in children:
1) Weight - Being overweight is a strong risk factor for type 2 diabetes in children. More fatty tissue , more resistance to insulin. Overweight or obese increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
2) Inactivity - lesser activity and sedentary life style of children has greater risk of type 2 diabetes in children. Lesser the physical activity, more the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
3) Diet - Lot of junk foods and smoked foods and packeted food items increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in young children. Young children are interested more in oily and fatty food items, and drinking sugar-sweetened beverages than healthy green vegetables and green leaves which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in them.
4) Age and sex - Many children developn type 2 diabetes in their early teens, but it may occur at any age. Adolescent girls are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than Adolescent boys
5) Family history - Genetic or family history of diabetes increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in young children. Risk increases if the children have a parent or sibling with the type 2 diabetes.
6) Maternal gestational diabetes - children born to mother who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy have greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes in their early stages of life.
7) Preterm birth - Baby born before 37 weeks of gestationa has a higher risk of type 2 diabetes in later life that is in early teens.
8) Low birth weight - Baby born with a birth weight of 2.5 kg or less than 2.5kg are more prone to type 2 diabetes in later stages of their childhood or in early teens.
✨️Prevention is better than cure ✨️
Complications:
If type 2 diabetes is not treated early , it may lead to various complications like:
● High cholesterol
● Heart and blood vessel disease
● Stroke
● Nerve damage
● Kidney disease
● Eye disease, including blindness
Prevention:
Rather than treating early , we can prevent the early onset of diabetes by :
☆ Eat healthy food
☆ Do more physical activity regularly
☆ Avoid fried and oily foods
Diagnosis:
Early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes can be done with :
● Random blood sugar test
● Fasting blood sugar test
● Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test
● Oral glucose tolerance test
Medication :
There are three medications that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating type 2 diabetes in children.
☆ Metformin
☆ Liraglutide
☆ Insulin
