More Black Children Dying From Diabetes

More Black Children Dying From Diabetes
THURSDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Black children withdiabetes face a death rate twice as high as that for white children, newU.S. government research shows.
While this racial disparity has been evident for more than two decades,the trend has been accelerating among children ages 1 to 19, according tothe study in the Nov. 16 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality WeeklyReport, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention.
"Although the numbers are small, in absolute terms, these deaths arestill preventable, which is why it is important to examine thosedisparities and work toward eliminating them," said CDC epidemiologist Dr.Laura L. Polakowski, who co-authored the report.
Looking at death certificates from 1979 to 2004, the researchers foundthat between 2003 and 2004, there were 89 deaths among U.S. children andteens from diabetes. During that time, the annual diabetes death rate forblack children and teens was more than double that for white children.
From 2003 to 2004, the diabetes death rate per million for children andteens was 2.46 for blacks and 0.91 for whites, the report found.
In addition, the death rate among blacks has been increasing since1998, while for whites it decreased significantly from 1979 to 1994, andthen leveled off from 1994 to 2004, Polakowski's team found.
A complex interplay of factors seems to be driving the disparity,Polakowski said. "Possible explanations could be differences in access toor use of health-care services, or differences in quality of diseaseseducation and care," she said.
Polakowski's group did not distinguish between juvenile diabetes,commonly called type 1 diabetes, and adult onset diabetes, often calledtype 2 diabetes. However, most diabetes deaths among children are causedby short-term complications from type 1 diabetes, Polakowski said. "Weknow we see these deaths with type 1 diabetes, we don't know if we seethem with type 2 diabetes at this point," she said.
Many of these deaths are due to acute complications such as diabeticketoacidosis, in which insulin levels are too low. If untreated, it leadsto diabetic coma and eventually death, Polakowski said.
"These complications are readily recognizable in children and don'trequire a great deal of technology to treat them," Polakowski said. "Therate of death among black children can be lower, because there is a lowerrate among white children," she said.
Type 1 diabetes is typically diagnosed in children and young adults andresults when the body does not produce insulin, a hormone that convertsblood sugar to energy for the body's cells. With type 2 diabetes -- themost common form of the disease -- either the body doesn't produce enoughinsulin or cells ignore the insulin, according to the American DiabetesAssociation. The obesity epidemic plaguing American children and adults isbelieved responsible for much of the explosion in type 2 diabetescases.
One expert agrees that the pediatric deaths detailed in the new CDCreport are preventable.
"I am not surprised that there would be a disparity," said Dr. LarryDeeb, past president for medicine and science at the American DiabetesAssociation. "That just reflects America -- doesn't it?"
All these deaths are from diabetic ketoacidosis, Deeb said. "That'swhat kills children with diabetes, and most of these deaths arepreventable," he said.
Deeb thinks the racial disparity in diabetes deaths among childrenresults from too many black children not having easy access to healthcare. With improved access and better diabetes education, "we caneliminate the disparity," he said.