BALTIMORE — New research out of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center shows an increased number of children were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers could not conclude whether COVID itself was indeed a factor in the rise, considering rates were already going up pre-pandemic.
However, they do believe the switch to virtual learning and the shutting down of sports and school activities are likely to have increased the risk.
They cite reduced physical activity and weight gain as being well-known risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Approximately one-third of American youth are considered at risk due to being overweight or obese.
“During the COVID-19 lockdown, children were removed from normal day-to-day routines like going to school, playing sports and other hobbies,” said Dr. Sheela N. Magge, director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at the Children’s Center. “Not only were they less physically active, they were confined to their homes and spent a lot more time watching TV, playing video games, or with other electronic devices.”
To conduct the study researchers examined the records of 3,113 patients between the ages of 8 and 21 across the country, comparing the total number of new diagnoses in the two years leading up to the pandemic with that of the first year of the pandemic.
Results revealed a 77 percent hike in case rates during that first year.
The same study showed more boys (55%) were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than girls (45%), a reversal from pre-pandemic years.
“This was one of the more unusual findings from our study,” says pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Risa Wolf,assistant professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Typically, we see more girls than boys who are newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, though it’s unclear why.”
Diagnoses among Hispanic and Black youth nearly doubled during that first year, while cases among Whites decreased.
Before the pandemic 57 percent of diagnosis were treated outpatient, whereas 57 percent were inpatient during the pandemic.
Without treatment and control, type 2 diabetes can cause heart disease, nerve and kidney damage, impaired vision and other irreversible injury to organs.
Research suggests that children get complications faster than adults.
