 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 Many of these deaths are due to acute complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis, in which insulin levels are too low. If untreated, it leads to diabetic coma and eventually death, Polakowski said.
"These complications are readily recognizable in children and don't require a great deal of technology to treat them," Polakowski said. "The rate of death among black children can be lower, because there is a lower rate among white children," she said.
Type 1 diabetes is typically diagnosed in children and young adults and results when the body does not produce insulin, a hormone that converts blood sugar to energy for the body's cells. With type 2 diabetes -- the most common form of the disease -- either the body doesn't produce enough insulin or cells ignore the insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association. The obesity epidemic plaguing American children and adults is believed responsible for much of the explosion in type 2 diabetes cases.
Text Continues Below
One expert agrees that the pediatric deaths detailed in the new CDC report are preventable.
"I am not surprised that there would be a disparity," said Dr. Larry Deeb, past president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. "That just reflects America -- doesn't it?"
All these deaths are from diabetic ketoacidosis, Deeb said. "That's what kills children with diabetes, and most of these deaths are preventable," he said.
Deeb thinks the racial disparity in diabetes deaths among children results from too many black children not having easy access to health care. With improved access and better diabetes education, "we can eliminate the disparity," he said.
More information
For more on diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.
Page: << Prev | 1 | 2
|
.gif)
