SerpApi.Org
Type 2 diabetes was once a condition that mainly affected older people. Today, it is increasingly seen in younger adults, especially women, as the nation’s obesity rates increase.
New diagnoses of type 2 diabetes have nearly doubled in women in their twenties in the past 13 years, figures for England show. In men in their twenties, diagnoses have risen by about 50 per cent.
The condition is still fairly rare in young people, affecting less than 0.1 per cent of those in this age group. But the trend is concerning, especially because type 2 diabetes tends to progress more quickly when it happens at a younger age, experts have said.
“This is really worrying given the poor health outcomes from early-onset type 2 diabetes,” said Dr Shivani Misra, a metabolism researcher at Imperial College London, who led the study, published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe.
Obesity has been on the rise for several decades in the UK, as well as in most other developed countries – and it is unclear which aspects of modern diets are chiefly to blame.
Being obese carries a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, where blood sugar levels get too high, perhaps because excess weight makes the body less sensitive to the blood sugar hormone insulin.
Women may be experiencing the highest rise in diabetes because they tend to be more overweight, they are more likely to get tested, and if they get a temporary form of diabetes during pregnancy, that can predispose them to the permanent form.
Type 2 diabetes usually progresses, with people needing increasing medication to control their blood sugar, and in the long term it can lead to heart attacks and organ damage.
Developing the disease at an earlier age makes it more dangerous in several ways, said Professor Andrew Hattersley, a diabetes expert at the University of Exeter, who was not involved in the research.
‘Steeper slope of deterioration’
When people get diabetes as early as their twenties or thirties, they have more years to develop the health complications, such as heart and kidney damage. The condition can also lead to blindness and amputations in very serious cases.
Those who develop diabetes younger also tend to have a more rapidly progressing version. “You’re on a steeper slope of deterioration,” said Hattersley.
Additionally, in people who get diabetes because of obesity, their excess weight worsens the other health conditions.
“We think of diseases like cancer as being very serious and type 2 diabetes less so. But when you get it at this age, that’s not the case,” said Hattersley.
Helen Kirrane, head of policy, campaigns and mobilisation at Diabetes UK, said we need to tackle rising obesity rates. “Further action needs to be taken by Government, including restricting the promotion of unhealthy food and creating environments that support healthier lives.”
However, while many different school intervention programmes have been tried, none have worked at slowing the rise in obesity in children. “It is an approach which hasn’t been successful in the past,” said Hattersley.
Misra said potential strategies could include earlier identification of people at risk and earlier use of slimming drugs, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.
“Young people appear to be particularly vulnerable to today’s ‘obesogenic’ environment,” she said.
