Diabetes hits the young
Published: 28 Aug 2017
One in nine Singaporeans has diabetes, and three in 10 of those aged 60 years old and above have diabetes. However, the prevalence of diabetes among the younger people is rising too, with 20 per cent of those under 40 years old getting diagnosed with the disease.
Dr Cindy Ho from NUS Medicine’s Department of Paediatrics explained that insulin helps to lower blood sugar levels to normal when people have a meal. As the carbohydrates they eat are digested into simple sugars, blood sugar levels rise in the blood, but this usually returns to normal in people without diabetes. People diagnosed with diabetes are unable to do this properly, and hence have high blood sugar levels that result in complications associated with diabetes.
Usually, Type 1 diabetes presents more acutely, with the child being very sick as they go into diabetic ketoacidosis, when toxin builds up in the body. It can strike at a young age, said Dr Ho, who added that her youngest patient is a two-year-old girl. “In fact, some babies get diabetes soon after they are born and we call that neonatal diabetes,” she added.
Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is most likely to affect children who are overweight, have a family history of diabetes, have unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity, added Dr Ho.
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