Youth obesity, type 2 diabetes diagnoses increase, according to insurance data

It appears as though diabetes in children could be on the rise, according to a new white paper on insurance claims that found the number of children being diagnosed with the disease has more than doubled.

The report, created by data from FAIR Health, a nonprofit that brings transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information, says that from 2011 to 2015, private health insurance claim lines with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis have increased 109 percent in pediatric populations, defined as 22 years old and younger.

FAIR Health’s findings are based on a database of more than 21 billion privately billed healthcare claims. They show that claim lines with a diagnosis of obesity have also increased across pediatric populations in the same time-period, with the largest increase being among 19 to 22 year olds.

“In many nations, including the United States, an epidemic of obesity has contributed to rising rates of type 2 diabetes for more than 20 years,” the authors wrote in the report. “Although the mechanisms linking the two conditions are not completely clear, most patients with type 2 diabetes are obese.”

Though both males and females appear to be diagnoses with obesity at the same rate during middle school, or for youths ages 10 to 13, females appeared to be diagnosed obese more often than their male counterparts in high school, when they were ages 14 to 16. However, males were diagnoses with type 2 diabetes more than females in most of the pediatric age groups, according claim lines in the data.

Additionally, type 2 diabetes was most common among both genders in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Utah and South Dakota, while it was less common in New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, Hawaii and Rhode Island.

“The epidemic of obesity is affecting society’s youngest members, driving up rates of type 2 diabetes from infancy to the college years,” the authors wrote. “Further research into the epidemiology, prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity and its sequelae, particularly type 2 diabetes, is merited, along with coordinated efforts by payors, providers, government officials and policy makers to improve the public health situation.”