Health Information
Type 2 Diabetes in Children
What Increases Your Risk
The major risk factors for type 2 diabetes in children include:
- Being overweight.
- Getting little or no physical activity.
- Having a parent, sister, or brother with the disease.
Other things that increase risk include:
- Race. African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander children are at greater risk for type 2 diabetes than white American children.
- Being female. Girls are more likely to develop the disease than boys.
- The child's mother having diabetes that developed during pregnancy (gestational diabetes).
- The child being small for Reference gestational age Opens New Window at birth.
Medical conditions that contribute to the risk of complications in adolescence and beyond include:
- Reference High blood pressure Opens New Window.
- Reference High cholesterol Opens New Window and high Reference triglycerides Opens New Window.
- Fatty liver, in which fat is deposited in the liver.
- Reference Sleep apnea Opens New Window, in which breathing stops briefly during sleep.
Teens who have diabetes and smoke have a higher risk of complications from diabetes than do those who do not smoke.
| By: | Reference Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: Reference August 1, 2012 |
| Medical Review: | Reference John Pope, MD - Pediatrics
Reference Stephen LaFranchi, MD - Pediatrics, Pediatric Endocrinology |
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