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3yr old diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes,Youngest Patient Yet!

Medic-ALL (09:18;2015) IN THE NEWS

A 3yr old girl was diagnosed with diabetes, making her what is thought to be the world’s youngest case of diabetes in history. The child’s story was documented in a case presented this week at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Stockholm. The case is being presented by doctors at the University of Texas, Houston.



Dr. Michael Yafi of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, United States who is presenting the case study, said the patient, a 3-and-a-half-year-old Hispanic girl presented to the paediatric endocrinology clinic with symptoms of excessive urination and thirst, but her medical history was unremarkable except that her parents were obese, but had no history of diabetes. 

The child weighed 77 pounds -- compared to an average of about 35 pounds for a girl her age. Her BMI was also in the top 5 percent for children her age and hence she was being evaluated for childhood causes of obesity. Following review of the child's diet by the doctors, it was found out that the family had poor nutritional habits with uncontrolled calories and fat. Laboratory tests revealed she had high fasting plasma glucose, but she tested negative for antibodies that would have indicated Type 1 diabetes. After ruling out other potential causes for her obesity and weight gain, doctors diagnosed her with type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is typically seen in adults, but as the epidemic expands, the disease has been rising dramatically in children, as well. In a statement Yafi said "Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of type 2 diabetes even in very young obese children, although of course type 1 diabetes can also still occur in obese children and is in fact much more common in young children than type 2 diabetes."

The girl was subsequently started on a liquid version of the diabetes drug metformin and her parents received nutritional training and medical advice to help them control their daughter's food intake and increase her physical activity. The metformin therapy was decreased by 50 percent each month, and then stopped. Six months after her diagnosis, the girl had dropped 25 percent of her body weight and had normal blood glucose levels.


According to Dr Yafi the reversal of type 2 diabetes in children is possible by early screening of obese children, early diagnosis, appropriate therapy and lifestyle modification.

Around 9.3 percent of the American population has diabetes, amounting to 29.1 million people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2014, while 8.1 million people are undiagnosed.

Medic-ALL. Inc 2015

Sources: FoxNews, CBSnews

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