Our last blog touched on an important and timely subject: the risks and challenges of treating type 2 diabetes linked to childhood obesity. The twin (and closely correlated) epidemics are well documented, but the newer phenomenon of the synergistic effect on children is truly frightening. It’s not only frightening from the emotional viewpoint that it’s impacting a particularly vulnerable population, but also to the medical community that must recognize, evaluate and treat these patients.
As a follow up to our last blog, today’s article expands on the issue from the perspective of the medical community. It is written by guest author, Susan Gorgalini, a US writer and researcher. Ms. Gorgalini begins, “Although major health organizations are scrambling to meet the deadline for ICD-10, my project medicalbillingandcodingcertification.net contains a wide range of resources to help those caught in the transition. Together, some of these have been referenced by the likes of University of Connecticut, The Daily Beast, and other reputable sources. Today’s blog discusses the wide range of medical billing and coding issues, technicalities, and debates would be of interest to readers.”
Medical Difficulties of Treating Obesity-Linked Diabetes in Children
There are 318 codes for diabetes that one would need to know to work an entry level clerk job in a doctor’s office. As the disease continues to grow and develop, so too will the number of codes, policies and prevention programs aimed at understanding and controlling an epidemic that threatens 1 in 3 children born in the year 2000.
Recent findings suggest that obesity-linked diabetes is harder to treat in children than it is in adults. While a slight majority of adolescent patients seem to experience success with their diabetes treatments, too many do not. More research may be performed in years to come that will further address possible treatment plans for kids and teens, but in the meantime, prevention remains the best course of action.
A four-year study funded by the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, among other groups, indicated that type-2 diabetes is more difficult to treat in adolescents from the ages of 10 to 17 than in adults. It was one of the first childhood diabetes studies of its kind. Researchers found that 52%of children using metformin to treat their diabetes had treatment failure. Combining metformin with lifestyle changes did not improve results much. The best results–a 61% success rate–were experienced in patients taking metformin combined with Avandia.
While obesity-linked diabetes is still a fairly rare occurrence, the growth rate of type-2 diabetes in children is enough to alarm many medical experts. It was hardly ever seen in children prior to the 1990s. Between 2002 and 2005, however, roughly 3,600 new cases were discovered per year. The climb in numbers over the past decade, paired with this most recent study, has doctors and parents more concerned than ever before.
Presently, individualized, aggressive treatment is the best that can be done for kids already diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. Each patient must work with parents and doctors to establish a medical treatment plan that offers them the best chance of staying off insulin therapy. While difficulties do exist, it is important to note that treatment does work for many adolescent patients, even if that number of patients is lower than in adults. Part of the difficulty may simply lie in compliance. Children may have a harder time remembering to or accepting that they need to take daily medications for their diabetes. Adolescents whose parents are actively involved in their treatment have a better chance at success than those who are left to their own devices.
Aside from aggressive treatment, prevention seems to be the only option. As an obesity-linked disease, type-2 diabetes will not likely develop in children who are at a healthy weight. Slowing the growth rate of childhood obesity may help slow the growth rate of adolescent type-2 diabetes as well.
The importance of prevention has prompted some to call for obesity reduction policies on a national scale. Recent programs, such as Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, are aimed at reducing childhood obesity rates. The effectiveness of these policies are limited, but whether this is due to lack of time, too much national involvement, or not enough national involvement has yet to be determined. It may help to have food companies, advertisers, and other organizations join these efforts, but prevention, like treatment, is only possible if patients are committed at the individual level.
Since research on obesity-linked diabetes in children is still scarce, more studies should be performed to thoroughly define the problem and assess the best courses of action for young patients. Until there is more research on the matter, it is difficult to determine what recourse young diabetes patients can take in treating the disease. Prevention through the maintenance of healthy weight will certainly help individual adolescents from developing the disease, but it is difficult, at present, to determine the effectiveness of nationwide pushes toward the reduction of childhood obesity. The best hope for kids is for doctors and parents to work together at fighting against childhood obesity and obesity-linked diabetes.
Click for more information on nutrition and diabetes issues that would be of interest to clinicians working with this population.
{ 0 comments }
