An increase in children at UW Health being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which is mostly seen in adults, could be tied to isolation and decreased physical activity from the COVID-19 pandemic, a UW doctor said.
“This trend is worrisome,” Dr. Elizabeth Mann, director of the Type 2 Diabetes Program at UW Health Kids, said in a statement Friday. “Increased rates of pediatric type 2 diabetes were recognized before the pandemic, but the trend has accelerated since spring 2020.”
The proportion of UW pediatric patients whose new diabetes diagnoses are type 2, not the type 1 form most common in children, was 16.4% last year, up from 5.8% in 2018, UW Health said.
UW's American Family Children’s Hospital admitted 128 patients with new onset diabetes last year, including 21 with type 2 diabetes. In 2018, the hospital had 52 such patients, only three of them with type 2.
About 35 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, in which the body doesn't properly respond to insulin needed to break down sugar, often due to excess weight or inadequate activity. Another 2 million are estimated to have type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreas no longer makes insulin, with auto-immune reactions believed to be the main cause.
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Mann said COVID-19 factors — including decreased physical activity, changes in dietary opportunities, increased chronic stress and the emotional and social impact of isolation — could be playing a role in the type 2 diabetes increase among children.
Genetics may contribute to getting diabetes, Mann said. Symptoms include increased thirst, urination and appetite, and unintended weight loss.
“Untreated, diabetes can lead to serious health conditions requiring hospitalization and may, in rare cases, be fatal,” she said.
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