By Zachary Stieber
Contributing Writer
Nearly one in every three children aged at least 12 have prediabetes, or higher than normal blood sugar levels or glucose levels, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new update.
CDC researchers analyzed 2023 results from a long-running national survey and estimated that 32.7% of children aged 12 to 17, or 8.4 million youth, have prediabetes.
They came up with the number by looking at kids who had higher-than-normal levels of blood sugar or glucose, without a diagnosis of diabetes.
Christopher Holliday, director of the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, said in a statement to news outlets that diabetes is a significant threat to the health of young people. He also said the data should serve as “a wake-up call” and spur changes.
“Simple lifestyle changes — like healthy eating and staying active — can make a big difference in preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes,” Holliday said.
Prediabetes is a precursor to diabetes, a disease in which sugar builds up in the blood. Prediabetes is characterized by slightly elevated blood sugar levels, indicating that a person may progress to developing Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition where the body fails to use insulin correctly, causing sugar buildup in the blood. Symptoms include frequent urination, sudden weight loss, and blurry vision. People with the condition, for which there is no cure, may be prescribed medication or insulin.
The CDC estimates that 38 million Americans have diabetes, with 90 to 95% of that group having Type 2 diabetes.
For the new data, the CDC used a progression method of analysis that included adjustments to account for differences in laboratory equipment and sites. That method diverges from the one used previously to estimate the prevalence of prediabetes, including a 2019 CDC estimate that about 20% of people aged 12 to 18 had prediabetes.
CDC researchers applied the new method to historical data and estimated that the prevalence of prediabetes among youth aged 12 to 17 was 28%, meaning the new data represent a 5% increase.
The CDC released a summary of the analysis on its website.
Some outside researchers said they were waiting for raw data to be published.
“Because there’s no raw data to look at, none of us can look at it to better understand where these numbers are derived from and what they really mean,” said Steven Kahn, a diabetes researcher at the UW Medicine in Seattle and editor-in-chief of the journal Diabetes Care.
Dr. Samar Hafida, an endocrinologist and representative for the American Diabetes Association, said the new analysis “wasn’t very transparent,” but added that the CDC’s updated estimate generally squares with what doctors are seeing — an increase in youth with obesity and elevated blood sugar levels that put them at risk for serious future health problems.
“It could be that maybe the number [is] slightly inflated, but I would hesitate to dismiss it,” she said.
A CDC spokesperson said that the analysis used “the latest science and technologies” and “the most updated methodology as science is continually evolving.”
The CDC did not respond to a request for comment about why the data had not been published in a peer-reviewed journal or the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a quasi-journal the agency has frequently utilized in the past to detail its findings.
It remains unclear what proportion of kids with prediabetes will go on to develop the disease, noted Dr. Dana Dabelea, a researcher who studies pediatric diabetes at the University of Colorado. Blood sugar levels can rise in response to developmental changes during puberty and then resolve later, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
