The sweets and pastries for Children’s Day might no longer taste so sweet, as the bitter truth about early onset diabetes in children starts shooting up especially in urban children. This temptation to give into that dessert, pizza or the yummy burger and sitting for hours on that video game might lead to a serious after effect in children as it might even serve as a stumbling block in the way of their higher education. Doctors say that children with diabetes face difficulties in concentration, hence in pursuing higher education, and the changing lifestyle is one of the important reasons leading to this problem.
Controlling this disease is extremely essential otherwise children and their parents face serious difficulties in fighting with this lifestyle disease. “Earlier children were seen to be affected only with Type-1 diabetes, which is an auto-immune disorder, but now there has been a sudden incidence of early onset Type-2 diabetes in children as well. Sedentary lifestyle, the junk food culture and a family history of diabetes is exposing more number of children to this threat,” said Dr Venkat Krishna Rao, consultant diabetologist, BGS Global Hospital. The increasing problem of diabetes in present generation parents is a causative factor for this problem in children and obesity in present generation children is a triggering factor for diabetes in these youngsters. “Due to hereditary factors coupled with the problem of obesity many of these children develop insulin resistance, and that is when they develop the problem of diabetes,” added Dr Rao. Doctors opine that there has been a 300 per cent increase of such cases of early onset Type-2 diabetes over the past two decades.
Exhaustion and vision problems are some of the manifestations of this problem and this de-motivates children in their academics because of which they cannot pursue higher education if the problem is not controlled on time. At times identifying the onset of Type-2 diabetes also becomes difficult in children so doctors suggest identifying them in the pre-diabetic stage, when their blood sugar levels are anywhere between the normal and the diabetic level. “The Body Mass Index (BMI) of children should be checked once in six months to identify such problems,” said Dr Kavita Bhat, pediatric diabetologist, Manipal Hospital. The normal BMI for children is anywhere between 10 and 85 percentile. “So children with 86 percentile BMI and a family history of diabetes, hypertension and ischemic heart problems should immediately be taken for a blood sugar test and children with 96 percentile BMI should be taken for a blood sugar test irrespective of the family history,” said Dr Bhat. However she added that a sudden increase of the BMI even within the normal range should also be taken seriously and the child should be screened.
“This problem is actually emerging as a serious threat especially in this urban fast-paced lifestyle, so it is essential that a child on the obese side be checked regularly for early detection of diabetes,” said Dr Srikanth, consultant diabetologist. A few cautious measures might go a long way in securing the future of a child by preventing the onset of diabetes.
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The next component
A healthy bony baby is always an eye-candy as it looks lovely, but if the weight continues to increase in greater proportion with age then it exposes the child to the risk of diabetes. It is this problem that has affected many children especially in urban areas and the taboo about this illness not only spoils the childhood, but also the future of the child gets blurred.
Some children who are suffering of Type-1 diabetes, an auto-immune disorder for which the causative factors are not known well, have to depend on insulin shots throughout their life. This creates a peer complex in them and they fail to mingle well with their friends. “My 12-year-old son lost a year because he did not wish to go to school and take injection shots in between. He just refused to go to school for one long year, though now he does go but I can feel that he does not really enjoy school days,” said Savithri, a homemaker.
Parents find it difficult to control the sugar levels in their children because sweets and confectioneries are favourites with children. “In birthday parties or during Christmas and New Year celebration it becomes very difficult to stop them from binging into cakes and pastries. So we have completely stopped bringing cakes and pastries at home and for my child’s birthday we usually go out on vacations so that we can avoid too much of indulgence into cakes,” said Parineeta, mother of a 15-year-old who is suffering of Type-2 diabetes.
Tremendous exhaustion at even a little exertion makes it difficult for these children to enjoy a normal fun-filled childhood. “I feel really sad when I see my son just staring out of the window at the other children playing in the park. We cannot allow him to go out every evening because that might be harmful for his health as he gets exhausted very soon,” said Zayeeda Sheikh, whose 13-year-old son was detected a diabetic about two years ago. Apart from the lifestyle restrictions in the affected children, even controlling the blood sugar levels in these children is a big challenge for their parents.
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Quotes
Akshatha Mishra (name changed), 14-year-old, Type-2 diabetes: I hate to stay away from cakes, pastries and even when I have pizzas it is always a limited number of only one at a time. I really miss enjoying the get together with friends where they go to restaurants and enjoy loads of pizzas, pastries and coffee.
Shreyas P (name changed), 12-year-old Type-1 diabetes: I too want to play cricket and volley ball with my friends, but I don’t think I can ever play a full game because I get very tired if I run. Hope some day some medicine is invented that can give me enough energy to play these games.
Nisha Rao (name changed), 16-year-old Type-2 Diabetes: I hope by shedding this extra weight I can resume my normal life of going for outings with friends. I can’t go for excursions nor on day-long outings because I have been instructed to be on a very strict diet which is not possible to follow if I eat out.
Box 1
Every year, Nov 14 is celebrated as the World Diabetes Day, as a part of the primary global awareness campaign, lead by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) had declared 2007 the 'Year of the Child with Diabetes' and the United Nations has declared 2008 as the 'Year of diabetes among children and adolescents'.
Box 2
1. Diabetes is a silent killer with India being the 'Diabetic Capital' of the World
2. Globally, every 10 seconds, a person dies of a diabetes-related illness and it is the fourth leading cause of death by disease
3. People in India take the cause of diabetes lightly especially in children, despite statistics showing that six out of 10 children with diabetes do not manage their diabetes successfully in school (according to their physicians)
4. Children with diabetes drop out of school earlier than others
Box 3
Today, India is called the 'Diabetes Capital' of the world with more than 8 per cent of the population affected by the pandemic. This equates to 41 million people. Of which about more than 50per cent of people with diabetes are unaware of their condition, costing society millions of rupees in treating the many serious complications like blindness, kidney failure, nerve diseases, limb amputations and cardiovascular diseases that arise from undiagnosed or poorly treated diabetes.
Box 4
Different activities on World Diabetes Day:
The Centre for Diabetes at Sagar Hospitals, Jayanagar will have a day-long activity called ‘Living With Diabetes’ at the hospital premises on November 14th 2008 observed as World Diabetes Day. The program from 9 am to 4 pm includes exhibitions, diabetes food court, health drink, diabetes foot care, audio visual presentations on diabetes awareness and distribution of patient education materials apart from various tests to ‘Know Your Risk’.
Novo Nordisk, the pharamaceutical company has organised the World Diabetes Day Walk, a risk check-up camp and painting competition at the KSLTA stadium, Cubbon park. The walk would be starting at 8 am on Nov 14. They have also initiated the ‘DAWN Youth’ programme to spread awareness among parents and school management to let them know how they can be of help to their children without destroying their life at such an early stage.
Manipal Hospital
The hospital has announced a comprehensive diabetes package on the occasion of World Diabetes Day. The package offers a host of screening tests for diabetes at a subsidized cost on Nov 14 between 9 am to 5pm at the Manipal Hospital on old Airport Road.
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