Clinical example: Xiao Qiang has a good appetite, a large amount of food, and especially loves to eat meat and fried food, but does not like outdoor sports, once home from school, soak in front of the TV or computer, eating snacks and sitting for hours. Now, 10-year-old Xiao Qiang is less than 1.4 meters tall, weighing more than 100 pounds, clumsy activities, classmates call him “little fat pier”, but in the eyes of his grandparents this is a good nutrition, healthy performance. Recently, although Xiao Qiang did not reduce the amount of food, but the person seems to have become significantly thinner, the neck, armpit skin darkening, and always feel weak. His grandparents were relieved and brought him to our department, where he was given an OGTT test, improved C-peptide, insulin, glycated hemoglobin and other related tests. He was diagnosed with “type 2 diabetes” based on his medical history, physical signs and relevant tests. In the face of the doctor’s diagnosis, the old man was full of doubts: “How can a child in his late teens, who is obese, get diabetes, which is only for middle-aged and elderly people?”
Why are obese people prone to type 2 diabetes? This is because obesity (especially abdominal obesity) can make the body produce insulin resistance, in order to maintain normal blood sugar, the body must compensate for the secretion of more insulin to meet the metabolic needs, over time, the pancreatic islet cells are overwhelmed, impaired function, and eventually lose compensation, resulting in increased blood sugar and the occurrence of diabetes. The younger the age of obesity, the longer the history of the disease, the greater the risk of diabetes. 2 type of diabetes onset age significantly earlier, not only make the ranks of diabetes more massive, but also in the long run, the consequences are more serious. Imagine being with diabetes at a young age, which will inevitably have many effects on your child’s future life, school, work, marriage, and psychology. Once poorly controlled, it will not only affect the child’s growth and development, but also various terrible complications, such as kidney failure, blindness, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which will unfortunately accompany the child with diabetes for the rest of his or her life, and the economic burden and mental pressure on the child and his or her family will be immeasurable.
Unlike type 1 diabetes, most children with type 2 diabetes have an insidious onset, and the symptoms are mild and often atypical when they first appear, and most of them are fat children who can eat and drink and appear to be in good nutritional condition, plus the children are too young to express themselves well, so they are easily overlooked and delayed. Therefore, for obese children, especially those with a family history of diabetes, type 2 diabetes should be highly suspected once the following signs appear: 1. This is the result of high insulin stimulation and reflects the existence of insulin resistance in the body); 5. Wounds do not heal easily, the skin always has boils or girls often feel itchy vulva, etc.
Parents should pay extra attention to these children and should go to the hospital regularly (every six months) for blood glucose testing and OGTT test if necessary to detect blood glucose abnormalities early and intervene early.