Increase in type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents in Western Australia

To document diagnosis rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents in Western Australia over the past 12 years, the clinical characteristics of these patients and any comorbidities.

Review of a prospectively recorded diabetes database.

Tertiary paediatric referral centre (the only such centre in WA).

All children and adolescents aged < 17 years diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between 1990 and 2002 and managed by Princess Margaret Hospital Diabetes Unit.

Anthropometric and demographic data; glycohaemoglobin (HbA(1c)) level; blood pressure; lipid levels; presence of acanthosis nigricans.

43 patients (15 males and 28 females) were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Age (SD) at diagnosis was 13.6 (1.8) years. The rate of diagnosis has been progressively increasing (average annual increase in the unadjusted overall rates of type 2 diabetes was 27%). Twenty-three patients (53%) were of Indigenous origin and 18 (42%) resided in rural areas. The mean (SD) HbA(1c) level at diagnosis was 10.0% (3.2%). Seventy-two per cent of patients had acanthosis nigricans, 59% had hypertension, and 24% had hyperlipidaemia.

There has been an increase in the diagnosis rate of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents in WA. Comorbidities are frequent.