Chicago – Roughly 2 million Americans ages 12 to 19 have a pre-diabetic condition linked to obesity and inactivity that puts them at risk for full-blown diabetes and cardiovascular problems, government data suggest.
Researchers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health examined the prevalence of abnormally high blood-sugar levels in test subjects after they went several hours without eating, a condition called impaired fasting glucose.
One in 14 of the subjects in a nationally representative sample had the condition. Among those who were overweight, it was one in six.
Affected subjects were more likely than those with normal fasting-glucose measurements to have other symptoms suggesting that they might face heart problems: Average levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides were higher in those with the pre-diabetic condition.
“The numbers are definitely concerning,” said Dr. Venkat Narayan, a CDC researcher and co-author of the study.
The study appears in November’s Pediatrics, being published today. It is based on data involving 915 12- to 19-year-olds who participated in a 1999-2000 national health survey.
About 20 million Americans have diabetes, most of them adults with Type 2, which impairs the body’s ability to use blood-sugar-regulating insulin. Type 2 diabetes is linked to being overweight and inactive.
Of about 177,000 Americans under 20 with diabetes, most have Type 1, in which the body produces little or no insulin. But type 2 diabetes among youngsters has increased.
