GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — More children are being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes than ever before.
Dr. Elizabeth Mann is a pediatric endocrinologist with UW Health and says she's seeing a lot more children being diagnosed every year, and she adds that it's mostly genetic and more common if someone in your family has been diagnosed.
She says parents need to be aware of the symptoms—especially if it's common in your family.
"Early diagnosis is really, really important. So, as long as primary care doctors are aware this trend is happening and screening for it is really important, and so I think it's really important for parents to recognize the signs and symptoms and the risk factors to understand if their children are at risk of Type 2 Diabetes," Dr. Mann said.
Dr. Mann said the signs include being more thirsty, increased urination, tiredness or losing weight.
Between 2018 and 2020 at UW Health Kids, medical providers served nearly 10-20 children with Type Two Diabetes each year. Since then, numbers have increased to 80-90 pediatric patients a year.
