Joslin To Participate in Nationwide Study To Address the Dramatic Rise in Type 2 Diabetes in Young People
Effort To Identify Risk Factors for Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes To Improve Prevention and Treatment
BOSTON - Joslin Diabetes Center will participate in a nationwide consortium that aims to advance understanding of youth-onset type 2 diabetes, with the goals of determining which children are at highest risk for developing the disease and how to better prevent, screen for, and manage type 2 diabetes in young people. The observational study is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and is designed to address the dramatic rise in youth diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over the past two decades—a trend that is expected to continue.
“Type 2 diabetes was formerly known as adult-onset diabetes and used to be considered a disease of aging,” said Elvira Isganaitis, MD, MPH, Associate Director of Joslin’s Pediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult Unit, who serves as the study’s principal investigator at the Joslin site. “Diagnosing type 2 diabetes in the pediatric age group is a relatively new phenomenon. We still don’t fully understand why some children develop pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, while others don’t. By looking comprehensively at genetics, epigenetics, environmental factors, hormonal influences, and social determinants of health, this study will help clinicians better understand who will develop the disease, and ultimately help guide more effective, targeted prevention and treatment strategies.”
Isganaitis will be co-leading the Boston study site, along with her colleagues Amy Fleischman, MD, MMSc, a pediatric endocrinologist, researcher and the director of the Optimal Wellness for Life weight management program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Takara L. Stanley, MD, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology and a researcher at Mass General for Children. This collaboration among three pediatric centers will facilitate recruitment of a diverse cohort of youth across the Greater Boston area. Recruitment will begin this fall.
Previous NIDDK-funded research indicates that youth-onset type 2 diabetes is more challenging to treat and progresses more aggressively compared to adult-onset type 2 diabetes. In youth with type 2 diabetes, blood glucose control is harder to achieve, and the ability of the pancreas to secrete insulin declines much more rapidly. Many young people with type 2 diabetes also don’t respond well to metformin—the drug most commonly used as the first-line treatment for diabetes in adults—and tend to experience earlier development of diabetes-related complications, such as damage to the eyes, kidneys, and nerves.
Boston will be one of 15 study sites across the country to recruit a combined 3,600 participants, ages 9 to 14, who are considered at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The participants will reflect the U.S. population of youth with type 2 diabetes, including people from diverse racial and ethnic, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and underserved rural populations.
The research team is also seeking extensive input from youth, young adults, and parents with lived experience of type 2 diabetes on both study design and conduct, including how best to recruit and retain participants, how frequently participants should be seen during the study, what questionnaires should be used to collect data, and more.
In addition to looking at biological factors, the study team will gather comprehensive data from participants and their families to understand what social and environmental factors may be adversely contributing to health disparities and poor outcomes among youth with type 2 diabetes. Research has suggested that these social determinants of health—the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age—have a powerful influence on shaping health outcomes. For example, people without access to healthy food and safe places to engage in physical activity may be more likely to develop obesity, which is associated with type 2 diabetes.
Learn more about the DISCOVERY of Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes in Youth study.
Funding: DISCOVERY is funded through NIH grants DK134971, DK134984, DK134975, DK134996, DK134958, DK134967, DK135002, DK134982, DK135007, DK134988, DK134978, DK134981, DK135012, DK135015, DK134976, and DK134966.
About Joslin Diabetes Center
Joslin Diabetes Center is world-renowned for its deep expertise in diabetes treatment and research. Part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, Joslin is dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes and ensuring that people with diabetes live long, healthy lives. We develop and disseminate innovative patient therapies and scientific discoveries throughout the world. Joslin is affiliated with Harvard Medical School and one of only 18 NIH-designated Diabetes Research Centers in the United States.
