Diabetes linked to psychiatric illnesses
As many as one in five children with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes may also have a neuropsychiatric disorder (NPD), according to a new study by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in the US.
As many as one in five children with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes may also have a neuropsychiatric disorder (NPD), according to a new study by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in the US.
The illnesses can include depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, developmental delay, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
The research suggests that the link could work in either direction: children with a NPD may be at risk for type 2 diabetes, and vice versa. It found that 46 (19%) of 237 children at CHOP diagnosed with type 2 diabetes had previously been diagnosed with NPD. The study is the first to report the frequency of NPD in children with type 2 diabetes.
'Of the subset of children in our sample with NPDs, a substantial number were treated with psychiatric medications reported to cause weight gain,' said Robert Berkowitz, M.D., chief of Psychiatry, CHOP, and senior author of the study. 'However, this is not the only factor at work, as not all of the medications cause weight gain. Depression, as well as other NPDs, may lead to a sedentary lifestyle, which places children at risk for type 2 diabetes.
'Some researchers suspect that depression and diabetes have a common basis in the neuroendocrine system, and that one disease may help to stimulate the other.'
Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset diabetes and still most common in adults, has been increasing sharply among children over the past decade, in parallel with growing numbers of overweight and obese children. It has especially been rising among African-American adolescents, who comprised a majority of the patients in the current study. Although the most effective treatment for in children is not known, CHOP is participating in a national multi-centre trial, comparing medication with the effects of lifestyle changes such as diet and increased exercise.
CHOP was founded in 1855 as the first pediatric hospital in the US. It has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide, and its pediatric research programme is among the largest in the country, ranking second in National Institutes of Health funding.