Increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes in Indigenous and non‐Indigenous children in Western Australia, 1990–2012

Emerging diabetes and metabolic conditions among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

“…With limited national data currently available, however, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among Indigenous young people is not known. Studies from different states consistently report higher rates, from a younger age, of youth onset type 2 diabetes in the Indigenous Australian population . While we have seen an increasing prevalence among all Australian youth over the past 20 years, Indigenous young people have experienced a much greater rise in new diagnosis rates.…”

“…Importantly, the age of onset of cardiometabolic conditions, such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, is significantly younger in Indigenous than in non‐Indigenous Australians, and the incidence of these conditions continues to increase in Indigenous youth . With limited national data currently available, however, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among Indigenous young people is not known.…”

“…While we have seen an increasing prevalence among all Australian youth over the past 20 years, Indigenous young people have experienced a much greater rise in new diagnosis rates. Western Australian data indicate a disturbing discrepancy, with a type 2 diabetes incidence of 12.6 per 100 000 person years in Indigenous youth aged 16 years or less, compared with an incidence of 0.6 in non‐Indigenous youth — a striking 20‐fold difference . A 2007 New South Wales study suggested that type 2 diabetes was 6.1 times as common among Indigenous young people aged 0–19 years than among non‐Indigenous young people, and a 2013 Northern Territory study reported that Indigenous youth represented 88% of youth type 2 diabetes diagnoses …”

“…In Indigenous Australian young people with type 2 diabetes, there are also higher rates of comorbidities, with 59% also having hypertension, 24% having dyslipidaemia and 61% having obesity . These comorbidities will have a significant impact on the future burden of disease, and may lead to renal, cardiac, neurological and ophthalmological complications.…”

Increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes in New Zealand children <15 years of age in a regional‐based diabetes service, Auckland, New Zealand

“…Historically, cases of T2DM in children were rare and the first cases were reported in Australia, for example, only in the 1990s . Recent studies from China, Japan and Western Australia suggest that the risk of T2DM in children and adolescents continues to increase . For example, in China, the age‐standardised incidence increased approximately fivefold from 2007 to 2013 .…”