According to a new study, as many as 2 million children in the U.S. aged 12 to 19 have a prediabetic condition or prediabetes, that is often linked to obesity and physical inactivity.
Prediabetes is defined as having a blood glucose level higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.
The condition indicates an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
In the study, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health examined the prevalence of a prediabetic condition called impaired fasting glucose (IFG) using data from the 1999–2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
In the study 915 adolescents were monitored.
With IFG the fasting blood sugar level is 100 to 125 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) after an overnight fast, and although that level is higher than normal it is not high enough to be classified as diabetes.
Adolescents with IFG have signs of insulin resistance and worsened cardiovascular disease risk factors among other things.
People have prediabetes when they have impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), a condition in which the blood sugar level is 140 to 199 mg/dL after a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test.
Some pre-diabetic people have both IFG and IGT, but the current study did not consider IGT.
In the study it was found 1 in 10 boys and 1 in 25 girls had impaired fasting glucose compared with one in six among the overweight teens.
The study also found IFG in 13 percent among Mexican Americans, 4.2 percent among non-Hispanic black individuals and 7 percent among non-Hispanic white individuals.