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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