This is the first study of its kind to examine the natural history and metabolic events preceeding the development of type 2 diabetes during adolescent growth. But physicians have noted that more teenagers and young adults are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and many of them are Latino and overweight. According to the American Diabetes Association, the prevalence of this type of diabetes is twice as high in Latinos as in non-Latino whites. About 1.2 million Mexican-Americans, or 10.6 percent of this population, have the disease. They plan to visit adult diabetes clinics and discuss the study with parents who are being treated for type 2 diabetes to interest them in entering their children in the study.
Researchers plan to follow the children's health through puberty.
They will also look at whether diabetes tends to occur more often in those who have more visceral fat, or fat around the organs. The researchers also expect to collect genetic information on the participants to look at genetic factors later on, said Goran, who also is associate director of the Keck School's Institute for Prevention Research. They will perform a series of annual measures including oral glucose tolerance tests and measures of fatness and fitness. Collaborators in the study include Richard Bergman, chair of physiology and co-director of the USC Diabetes Center, Jim Dwyer, an epidemiologist from the Department of Preventive Medicine, as well as Francine Kaufman, professor of pediatrics and director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. For more information on the study and recruitment, call Goran at 442-3027.