A large population-based study in England has identified a marked generational shift in type 2 diabetes, with diagnoses increasing rapidly among younger adults, especially women, even as rates have declined in older age groups.
Researchers at Imperial College says their findings should prompt more preventative action and pressure on the food industry to help create “healthier (food) environments” and switch away from a focus on marketing unhealthy foods.
The research, published in Lancet Regional Health Europe, is the first to examine trends in new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes (T2D) across the entire English population, while stratifying analyses by age, sex and ethnicity.
Overall trends in diabetes incidence have usually appeared to be stable or increasing, but the new data shows that while incidence is falling in older adults, who make up the largest proportion of new diagnoses, it is increasing rapidly in people under 40 years of age.
This, say researchers, is especially worrying, given that type 2 diabetes diagnosed at a younger age leads to a longer lifetime exposure to the disease, earlier death and a greater risk of serious complications, , including poor pregnancy outcomes in women. They say current type 2 diabetes prevention strategies may be working less well in younger generations.
Dr Shivani Misra, clinical associate professor at Imperial College London, explained: “We have known for a long time that obesity is linked to type 2 diabetes, but what is new from this study is the scale of the change occurring in younger adults. We think that the earlier onset of severe obesity in young people is increasing their type 2 diabetes risk in early life and pulling down their age at diagnosis. This is really worrying given the poor health outcomes from early-onset type 2 diabetes and as numbers increase, we need to think about implementing effective treatments as early as possible.”prevention strategies may be working less well in younger generations.
Dr Misra added: “There are many factors in society today that can contribute to someone developing obesity, from the widespread availability and marketing of unhealthy foods to increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and young people appear to be particularly vulnerable to today’s obesogenic environment. If we are serious about reducing the future burden of type 2 diabetes, we need stronger public health measures that create healthier environments and help prevent type 2 diabetes from developing in the first place.”
