Sick before their time– more kids diagnosed with adult diseases

Why are more children today diagnosed with adult diseases? A new report from Harvard Medical School found that kids are increasingly suffering from chronic diseases that traditionally impact adults, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, elevated blood pressure, sleep apnea and more. Researchers say obesity may be to blame for the increase. As Dr. Pamela Singer, of the division of pediatric nephrology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, explains, “now the vast majority of hypertension that we are seeing is ‘adult-type’ hypertension, related in large part to diet and lifestyle. That’s not just true for hypertension, but also for other diseases classically thought of as ‘adult disease,’ such as type 2 diabetes, which are becoming more common in the pediatric population. These conditions may be interrelated- obesity, elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, insulin resistance- and physicians and researchers are trying to elucidate those relationships.” This also means that more kids and teens are taking medications for these conditions at a younger age, so pediatricians are worried about the long term consequences. Eating healthy and reducing your child’s sodium and fat intake can help to decrease the risk of these diseases.

Time, 7/16/13