Diabetes Rates Are Increasing Among Youth
NDEP Introduces New Resources to Help Teens Manage the Disease
While most children and young adults with diabetes have type 1,
soaring obesity rates are making type 2 diabetes, a disease that
used to be seen primarily in adults over age 45, more common among
young people. To help young people diagnosed with diabetes and
their parents, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) is
introducing a new series of tip sheets and an online quiz specially
created for teens to help them manage their disease and reduce
their risk for complications. NDEP is jointly sponsored by the
National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
About 154,000 youth under age 20 have diabetes in the United States.
According to data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in 2006, one in 523 people younger than age 20 has diabetes.
Among this group, 79 percent are aged 10 to 19 years.
NDEP's new Tips for Teens with Diabetes series, which
encourages youth to take steps to manage their disease for a long,
healthy life, includes topics such as What is Diabetes?, Be
Active, Make Healthy Food Choices, Stay at a Healthy Weight, and
Dealing with the Ups and Downs of Diabetes. NDEP also has
a tip sheet addressing teens at risk for type 2 diabetes, called Lower
Your Risk for Type 2 Diabetes. In addition, NDEP has developed
an interactive online quiz for teens with diabetes based on information
found in the tip sheets, using a question-and-answer format, with
direct links to the new series of tip sheets. All of the tip sheets
are available at no charge from the NDEP.
The release of NDEP's new educational materials for teens and
their parents coincides with National Diabetes Awareness Month
in November. The new tools also support the 2007 World Diabetes
Day campaign theme "Diabetes in Children and Adolescents," which
raises awareness of the rising prevalence of type 1 and type 2
diabetes among youth around the world. World Diabetes Day, November
14, is sponsored by the International Diabetes Federation.
NDEP's new resources support youth with diabetes and their families
to ensure their health and well-being now and into adulthood. For
more information about NDEP's free resources for children and teens,
visit www.YourDiabetesInfo.org or
call 1-888-693-NDEP (6337).
NDEP chair-elect Francine Kaufman, M.D., head of the Center for
Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism for the Childrens Hospital
of Los Angeles, is chair of the Youth Section for World Diabetes
Day. Listen to an NIH Radio interview with Dr. Kaufman about diabetes
in youth and World Diabetes Day at http://helix.od.nih.gov/nihradio/10192007podcast_0043.mp3.
NIDDK, a component of the NIH, conducts and supports research
in diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive
diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic
diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting
people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass
some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting
Americans. For more information about NIDDK and its programs, see www.niddk.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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