Many Kids With Diabetes Not Getting Proper Diagnosis

A new study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting in Denver suggests that doctors are failing to diagnose a large number of children with type 2 diabetes, adding that a more accurate picture could be obtained by conducting a second blood test. Researchers from the Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics said that while majority of the doctors see the hemoglobin A1C test as the best method of getting an early diagnosis of diabetes among overweight children, many children who are actually diabetic display normal readings when the test is conducted.

The researchers observed 629 overweight adolescents and found that around 40 percent of type 2 diabetic patients and 67 percent of high risk patients identified through oral glucose tolerance test would have shown normal readings if just hemoglobin A1C test was conducted.

“Our research indicates that special consideration may need to be given to overweight children being tested for diabetes. Simply following the guidelines may not be enough to ensure these children get proper care”, lead researcher Ghufran S. Babar said


Source-Medindia