Clinical pictures of type 2 diabetes in Thai children and adolescents is highly related to features of metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in children and adolescents has increased, parallelled to the increased prevalence of obesity around the world. The objectives of this study are (1) to identify the clinical presenting features of T2DM in Thai children and adolescents, and (2) to identify evidence of feature of metabolic syndrome in these affected. We analyzed 26 T2DM patients who were treated by Pediatric endocrinologists in our hospital. The study showed that their mean ages (±SD) at diagnosis was 12.1 ± 2.3 years, all were obese and 96% had acanthosis nigricans. Fifty three percents (53%) presented with clinical signs and symptoms which included DKA (19.2%), clinical triad of polyuria, polydipsia and weight loss (15.4%), only polyuria, polydipsia (11.5%) and abnormal menstruation (7%). The rest of 46.2% had no clinical symptoms. The initial fasting or random plasma glucose found above diagnostic range in 84.5%, the rest of 15.5% were diagnosed by using oral glucose tolerance test. Dyslipidemia was found in 75%. Fifteen percents had no family history. Eighty percents had three or more than three features of metabolic syndrome. In conclusions, clinical picture of type 2 diabetes in Thai youth varied from asymptomatic to severe illness (DKA). Almost all had clinical features of metabolic syndrome. Childhood obesity has become epidemic in our population. Such clinical picture should alert all pediatricians to be aware of chronic diseases and for making an early diagnosis and preventing long term complications in the future.