Young-onset type 2 diabetes — i.e., diagnosis before age 40 — is associated with more lifetime hospitalizations relative to later diabetes diagnosis and a high burden of mental health hospitalizations, according to an Annals of Internal Medicine study.
Researchers studied two cohorts of over 400,000 patients with type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong. By age 60, patients diagnosed at age 34 had double the rate of all-cause hospitalizations as those diagnosed at age 54. The authors estimate that by age 75, a person with young-onset diabetes would have spent nearly 100 days in the hospital. The rate of renal hospitalizations was seven times higher with young-onset diabetes.
For those with young-onset disease, 37% of bed-days before age 40 were due to mental health hospitalizations, most often for psychotic and mood disorders.
The authors conclude: “Adults with young-onset diabetes have excess hospitalizations across their lifespan compared with persons with usual-onset Type 2 Diabetes, including an unexpectedly large burden of mental illness in young adulthood. Efforts to prevent young-onset diabetes and intensify cardiometabolic risk factor control while focusing on mental health are urgently needed”
Read the article here.
Source: NEJM Journal Watch
