Study: Signs of Type II Diabetes "Highly Prevalent" Among Severely Obese Children

The first signs of type II diabetes are "highly prevalent" among the growing number of children and adolescents with severe obesity, according to Yale University researchers.

"This study suggests that many obese children have a high risk for developing type II diabetes," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement. "Researchers have a lot of information on how to prevent and treat type II diabetes in adults, but we need to find better ways to prevent and treat the disease in children."

The researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on their study of 55 obese young children, aged 4 to 10, and 112 obese adolescents, aged 11 to 18, all of whom were severely overweight.

One-quarter of the young children, and one-fifth of the adolescents, showed signs of impaired glucose tolerance, the result of resistance to insulin, according to the researchers.

Four of the older children also were found to to have previously undiagnosed Type II diabetes, and three others with impaired glucose tolerance ultimately developed diabetes during the four-year study.

In the younger group, reduced glucose tolerance was much more common among the girls than the boys.

"Impaired glucose tolerance is highly prevalent among children and adolescents with severe obesity, irrespective of ethnic group," the researchers concluded.

Other sources: New England Journal of Medicine, DHHS