'Adult' diabetes striking children

ABU DHABI // Doctors are warning of a growing obesity-related health crisis as children as young as seven are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Often called adult-onset diabetes, Type 2 usually strikes people in middle age. But medical professionals, who have already said that diabetes has reached epidemic levels in the Emirates, are diagnosing patients while they are children. Like most eight-year-old boys, one young patient who arrived at the office of the endocrinologist Dr Omar Baimat enjoyed junk food, especially chocolate. But the dark, dirty-looking blemishes on his neck, called nigricans, were evidence of insulin resistance. He was obese, with a body mass index of 30, and a family history of diabetes. He was given a regime of exercise, diet and drugs to help to control the disease. A female patient at the same clinic was only seven when she arrived at the doctor's office, already experiencing the kind of cardiac problems common in people with diabetes. Although she had a family history of the disease, she had no other discernible risk factors. "We have a couple of patients around seven years of age," said Dr Baimat, from the Dr Sulaiman al Habib Medical Centre. "Many children, especially in the initial stages, won't get the acute symptoms of diabetes." However, a lack of symptoms does not mean there is no cause for concern. If left untreated, patients can fall into a coma or even die suddenly. The long-term complications of diabetes include cardiac and vascular disease, blindness and depression. Unlike Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 is directly linked to a patient's lifestyle. Obesity, brought on by unhealthy eating habits and a lack of exercise, is one of the biggest risk factors, along with a family history of the disease. "There is a genetic predisposition," said Dr Maha Barakat, the medical director of the Imperial College of London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi. "If you take those genes and live a healthy lifestyle with a normal body weight and exercise regularly you may not develop diabetes. If you take the same genes and then not exercise, eat the wrong food and gain lots of weight, those genes suddenly kick in the process that leads to diabetes." The UAE has the second highest rate of diabetes in the world. Almost one-quarter of the population has the disease, well above the international average of six per cent. A recent study by the UAE University estimates that 24.5 per cent of the population have the disease, with 10 per cent of those cases undiagnosed. A further 18.5 per cent have pre-diabetes. The rate of diabetes has been forecast to grow by 33 per cent, as so many children are either overweight or obese. "We're seeing Type 2 diabetes in children now and that parallels the change in lifestyle and eating habits," said Dr Peter Thornback, a paediatrician at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City. The growing rate of diabetes will significantly increase health care costs and quality of life across the UAE. No matter how carefully the patient manages blood sugar levels, most people with diabetes are burdened with the complications of the disease. Many of these are irreversible and some are life-threatening. A patient diagnosed at 45 needs approximately 30 years of medical care to manage the disease. However, a child diagnosed at the age of eight could require 70 years of care, and this will place a massive burden on the health care system. Diabetes rates jumped to more than 40 per cent of people over the age of 60, said Rania Halawani, a dietician who works with diabetic patients. "This is really scary. It is a huge number," she said. "It's the disease of the century in the UAE." @email:amcmeans@thenational.ae