Understanding Pediatric Prediabetes: Symptoms & Risk Factors

In most instances, pediatric pre-diabetes has no symptoms, and is similar to adult pre-diabetes. However, when a child exhibits symptoms, the symptoms are similar to Type 2 diabetes symptoms and include constant hunger, weight changes, excessive thirst and frequent urination.

Definition

• Pediatric pre-diabetes is when the blood sugar of a person under the age of 18 is higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes.

Risk Factors

• A child may be at risk for pre-diabetes if they are overweight. Overweight Hispanic children are at a higher risk for pre-diabetes than overweight non-Hispanic children.

Diagnosis

• Pediatric pre-diabetes is most often diagnosed using a fasting plasma glucose test. The child will be diagnosed with pre-diabetes if the results of the test indicate that his blood sugar is between 100 mg/dl and 126 mg/dl.

Treatment

• Pediatric pre-diabetes is treated through diet modification and exercise to reduce body weight and sugar intake.

Statistics

• According to CDC research, it is estimated that 2 million children have prediabetes.