Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Type 2 diabetes has long been considered a disease of overweight adults. However, its incidence is increasing rapidly in children and adolescents along with that of overweight and obesity. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical profile of type 2 diabetes in young subjects.

Materials and methods

Descriptive prospective study from January 2019 to August 2020 including 30 diabetic patients aged 15 to less than 35 years hospitalized in our department and in whom the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was evoked according to the criteria of the ADA 2020.

Results

The mean age of our patients was 24.02 ± 6.23 years, with a female predominance of 73.3%. Forty percent of our patients were already known to have diabetes with an average length of 1.67 years ± 2.70 and 60% had just been diagnosed. Type 2 diabetes was discovered after revealing ketosis in 14 patients, incidentally in 12 patients, after ketoacidosis in 2 patients, and after gestational diabetes in 2 patients. The cardiovascular risk factors found were obesity in 26.7% of cases and the syndrome metabolic in 20% of cases. The complications found were diabetic retinopathy in 13.3% of cases and diabetic neuropathy in 33.3% of cases. Acanthosis nigricans was present in 66.6% of our patients.

Conclusion

Type 2 diabetes is common in young people, hence the importance of its prevention in this category of the population which must be focused on lifestyle changes.