Paediatric and young adult population with type 2 diabetes as a challenge for family medicine: an 8 year national observational study

Background
Literature points out that the frequency of occurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in children, adolescents and young adults has been increasing rapidly. However, there is still lack of epidemiological research in this area.

Objectives
The national observation study was used to determine the trend of T2DM in the Polish paediatric and young adult population.

Material and methods
The Polish National Health Fund database from 2010 to 2017, which was representative of the Polish population, was examined. Overall, 8,530 patients with T2DM were included in the study. The annual prevalence of T2DM was estimated according to the age groups, especially in three groups: group 1 – children (up to 10 years of age), group 2 – adolescents (between 11 and 20 years of age) and group 3 – young adults (21–30 years of age). The T2DM groups were defined according to the ICD-10 codes. The relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was also calculated.

Results
The frequency of occurrence of T2DM in the population of children and adolescents is relatively stable and reached – depending on the year of observation – between 0.33% and 0.22% of all T2DM patients. Each year, physicians diagnose about 255 new cases of T2DM among children up to 10 years of age and about 812 among adolescents between 11 and 20 years of age.

Conclusions
The tendency of occurrence of T2DM among children and teenagers is relatively stable. This problem requires taking appropriate steps in order to prevent the development of T2DM and improve medical care aimed at these patients.