Diabetic Hospitalizations Among Youth Rises 38 Percent Since 1993

Sunday, July 06, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: diabetes, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) The number of young adults in the United States who were hospitalized with health conditions related to diabetes increased by 38 percent between 1993 and 2004, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published in the journal Diabetes Care.

While diabetes, Type 2 in particular, generally affects the older segment of the population, the prevalence of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes among children in the United States has been rising. To determine whether diabetes-related hospitalizations among youth are also increasing, researchers examined data on hospital stays by people under the age of 29 who had been diagnosed with diabetes.

Between 1993 and 2004, the overall hospitalization rate for the study population increased by 38 percent. When broken down by age, the researchers found that the hospitalization rate for those between the ages of 20 and 29 increased significantly every year, while there did not appear to be any changes among those younger than 20.

Researchers found that females were more likely to be hospitalized than males, and that the increase in hospitalization rates was also greater for females than males. While 29 percent more diabetic males under the age of 29 were hospitalized in 2004 as compared to 1993, 42 percent more diabetic females were hospitalized.

According to the researchers, the rates of diabetes-related hospitalization are expected to keep rising, since the prevalence of the disease increases every year.

Diabetes rates continue to increase among the U.S. population in general, rising at such a rate that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has termed it an epidemic. According to the American Diabetes Association, 20.8 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with diabetes, 6.2 million remain undiagnosed and 41 million are prediabetic.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 171 million people around the world are diabetic.