How Does Diabetes Affect Different Age Groups?
Approximately half of all diabetes cases occur in people older than 55 years of age and 40% of individuals over the age of 60 have impaired glucose tolerance. This means that the elderly are at high risk because the prevalence of diabetes increases with age, especially the risk of Type II diabetes. One in four individuals over the age of 60 has Type II diabetes. A main contributing factor to developing Type II diabetes is declining physical and metabolic activity, which comes with age. Also, reduced mitochondrial activity in muscle cells, which progresses with age, is a serious concern for seniors because it is a major cause for insulin resistance.
There is also an increasing trend of diabetes in younger age groups. From 1990 to 1998, the incidence of diabetes in 30-39 year olds jumped by 76%. This increasing trend also includes children. Today, 30% of pediatric patients in the U.S are Type II diabetic. Because diabetes is not regularly screened in children, many children go undiagnosed. This is especially dangerous because diabetes is a progressive disease. Once diagnosed, there is an almost unavoidable potential for it to escalate. Therefore, it is important to control it early on, especially in children.
As mentioned previously, Type II diabetes is also known as Adult Onset Diabetes. However, with recent statistics concerning the rise of Type II diabetes in children, Adult Onset Diabetes becomes a misnomer.
The rise in diabetic children is cause for alarm because diabetes progresses over time. As a person ages, their diabetes continues to worsen. Also, the use of pharmaceutical drugs just adds to the problem. Diabetic pharmaceutical drugs seem to lose their effectiveness over time, which forces the diabetic to increase the dosage for the same results. So we can predict that when a diabetic child becomes 20 or 30 years old, he will face an advanced stage of diabetes where oral drugs will not work and insulin will be required.
The alarming increase of diabetes in children is parallel to the rise of obesity in America's children. Sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits and various other factors have contributed to this threat to children's health. In fact, it has been estimated that 30% of 6-19 year olds are overweight. Furthermore, approximately 70% of obese adolescents are likely to become obese adults.
Often people say that children can outgrow their diabetes with diet and exercise. This may be possible in a small number, but in the vast majority it is wrong. Diabetes is a progressive disease and will only worsen over time.
Back to Q & A