Diabetes Research Centres in Chennai

Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Five Race and Ethnic Populations

Diabetes, a leading cause of nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, and coronary and peripheral vascular disease, is the third most prevalent severe chronic disease of childhood in the U.S. People with diabetes diagnosed before the age of 20 years have a life expectancy that is 15–27 years shorter than people without diabetes , although prospective data show improvements in mortality for those diagnosed in more recent years.Until only a decade ago, diabetes diagnosed in children and adolescents was almost entirely considered to be type 1 diabetes, most often due to the autoimmune destruction of the β-cells of the pancreas leading to an absolute deficiency of insulin.

Diabetes in children and adolescents is now viewed as a complex disorder with heterogeneity in its pathogenesis, clinical presentation, and clinical outcome. The occurrence of what appears clinically to be type 2 diabetes in youth, particularly overweight minority youth, has been documented in several studies. 

The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Diabetes Translation, with support from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, began in 2000 with an overarching objective to describe childhood diabetes as it occurs among the five major race and ethnic groups in the U.S. These groups include non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, and American Indian. Key aims of the study with a focus on race and ethnicity are the following:

• To estimate the prevalence and incidence of physician-diagnosed diabetes in youth aged <20 years by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and diabetes type; and
• To characterize key risk factors for diabetes complications, according to race
  
  

  

Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes occur in each of the five major race/ethnic groups under surveillance  In this Diabetes Care supplement, we provide a set of five articles, each devoted to one of the five race/ethnic groups. These articles were designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the face of diabetes in the race/ethnic group of interest and to highlight important aspects of the epidemiologic, biochemical, quality-of-care, social, and behavioral aspects of diabetes in these youth.

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