More young diabetics in hospital

According to a recent American study conducted at a Children’s Hospital there has been an increase in the number of hospitalisations amongst young American people with diabetes . The trend, according to the study, is costing both Medicaid and private insurance companies billions every year.
Obesity is cited as a key cause for both children and young adults, and more Americans than ever before are facing greater complications from their diabetes. The results were reported by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. The study, published in the December issue of Diabetes Care, indicates a 38 per cent increase in hospitalisations between 1993 and 2004.
The lead study author, Joyce Lee, reportedly commented: “The number of young adults hospitalized with diabetes in the U.S. has increased significantly over the past decade, along with the rate of childhood obesity. Today’s young adults experienced childhood and adolescence in the leading edge of the childhood obesity epidemic in the 1970s and 1980s. Our findings suggest that we may now just be beginning to see the first manifestation of a related ‘diabetes epidemic’ among these young adults.”
Lee reportedly forecasted: “With the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and increasing trends in type 2 diabetes among young adults, the economic burden of diabetes will only continue to rise, affecting public and private insurance plans alike.”