Low Prevalence of Pediatric Type 2 Diabetes: Where's the Epidemic?

Various reports have documented a dramatic rise in pediatric type 2 diabetes, particularly among minority children, explained, at least in part, by the rising prevalence of childhood obesity. These reports have led to numerous commentaries and review articles that have described pediatric type 2 diabetes as a “new,” “evolving,” or “emerging” epidemic. These developments have led to the general perception both in the professional and public media that there is an epidemic of pediatric type 2 diabetes in the United States. However, most of the published estimates of the incidence and prevalence of pediatric type 2 diabetes are derived from clinic-based studies that have documented the rising numbers of children in clinic visits being diagnosed as type 2 as opposed to type 1 diabetes. These estimates could be potentially biased because they are based on the “population” of children who are coming to see their pediatrician presumably with diabetes or other related symptoms. These estimates may also be limited by lack of repeated testing to establish true type 2 diabetes and eliminate the possibility of a false-positive test result.

Abbreviations: NHANES III, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey