Diabetes can be classified into two types: Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, which is exclusively diagnosed in childhood, and Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes which is nearly always diagnosed in adults.
Type 2 diabetes used to be considered an adult-only disorder.
Until recently, children who were diagnosed with diabetes always or nearly always developed Type 1 diabetes.
Increasingly, however, medical professionals are diagnosing children with Type 2 diabetes, normally found in adults.
What is behind this shift? Researchers suggest that lifestyle choices play crucial roles in whether or not a person will develop Type 2 diabetes.
While lifestyle choices alone may not be sufficient to cause the disease, they do make its development more likely.
Being overweight is a major risk factor for development of Type 2 diabetes.
More and more children are becoming overweight due to poor diet and inactivity.
Accordingly, more and more children are at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes due to being overweight or obese.
Not all overweight children will become diabetic, but they are much more likely to become so than are children who are a normal weight.
There are other symptoms of or factors associated with Type 2 diabetes in children.
These include: Being over one's healthy weight, as has been previously noted.
Also, if a child has an immediate relative, especially a parent, who has Type 2 diabetes, their risk of developing the condition is increased.
Other symptoms, like constant thirst and a frequent need to urinate, are common to both types of diabetes.
Feeling very lethargic, or tired all of the time, is also commonly reported as a symptom.
You don't have to have typical symptoms to be diabetic, however.
It is possible to have the condition and show few if any signs.
Because of this, it is important that parents report family medical history to children's physicians, especially whether any close relatives are diabetic.
At the doctor's discretion, patients may be tested for diabetes even without symptoms, especially if there is a family history that suggests increased risk.
Type 2 diabetes used to be considered an adult-only disorder.
Until recently, children who were diagnosed with diabetes always or nearly always developed Type 1 diabetes.
Increasingly, however, medical professionals are diagnosing children with Type 2 diabetes, normally found in adults.
What is behind this shift? Researchers suggest that lifestyle choices play crucial roles in whether or not a person will develop Type 2 diabetes.
While lifestyle choices alone may not be sufficient to cause the disease, they do make its development more likely.
Being overweight is a major risk factor for development of Type 2 diabetes.
More and more children are becoming overweight due to poor diet and inactivity.
Accordingly, more and more children are at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes due to being overweight or obese.
Not all overweight children will become diabetic, but they are much more likely to become so than are children who are a normal weight.
There are other symptoms of or factors associated with Type 2 diabetes in children.
These include: Being over one's healthy weight, as has been previously noted.
Also, if a child has an immediate relative, especially a parent, who has Type 2 diabetes, their risk of developing the condition is increased.
Other symptoms, like constant thirst and a frequent need to urinate, are common to both types of diabetes.
Feeling very lethargic, or tired all of the time, is also commonly reported as a symptom.
You don't have to have typical symptoms to be diabetic, however.
It is possible to have the condition and show few if any signs.
Because of this, it is important that parents report family medical history to children's physicians, especially whether any close relatives are diabetic.
At the doctor's discretion, patients may be tested for diabetes even without symptoms, especially if there is a family history that suggests increased risk.