Diabetes mellitus or type 2 diabetes typically occurs in elderly adults, and is usually linked with obesity, but there have been reports of children having the disease. BBC News has learned that the youngest patients on the record were aged between five and nine.
It was recently revealed that a 3-year-old Hispanic girl, the youngest patient, was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. The case study was presented during the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, in Stockholm, this week.
The patient was from Texas, and when she showed up at a clinic in Houston, she reportedly had excessive urination, extreme thirst and she weighed 77 pounds when she was diagnosed. According to the report of CBS News, the child's medical history did not show any signs of risk for diabetes.
She was tested for diabetes insipidus, the type that usually occurs in children, but the results were negative. Her blood sugar level was tested, and the result was high.
"The age is extremely unusual," Dr. Fran Cogen, director of diabetes services at the Children's National Health System, said. However, the doctor was not surprised, according to Washington's Tops News.
"It only re-emphasized the current state of the type 2 diabetes epidemic that we are seeing in younger children," Dr. Cogen said.
"I'm very vigilant and screen all obese children I see for signs of the disease but I was surprised to find it in someone so young," Dr. Michael Yafi, one of the first specialists who first saw the patient at University of Texas Health Science Center, said.
"The case is probably the youngest reported but with no global register it is hard to be sure," he continued.
Dr. Yafi reportedly warned that diabetes mellitus among children might have been missed because of incorrect assumptions that the condition can only happen in adults.
Diabetes runs in the family, but lifestyle can also be a factor in developing the disease. The family of this toddler was reportedly eating a high-calorie diet rich in fat.
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