The epidemiology, clinical, biochemical, immunological and radiological features of youth onset type 2 diabetes mellitus in the state of Qatar

Shayma M Ahmed; Basma Haris; Saras Saraswathi; Ahmed Elawwa; Amal Khalifa; Maryam AlMaadheed; Tasneem R Abdel-Karim; Noor Hamed; Houda Afyouni; Hajar Dauleh; Ahmed Shamekh; Mahmoud Al-Zyoud; Fawziya AlKhalaf; Goran Petrovski; Khalid Hussain

doi:10.1007/s13340-021-00548-9

The epidemiology, clinical, biochemical, immunological and radiological features of youth onset type 2 diabetes mellitus in the state of Qatar

Diabetol Int. 2021 Oct 11;13(2):381-386. doi: 10.1007/s13340-021-00548-9. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Shayma M Ahmed^#¹, Basma Haris^#¹, Saras Saraswathi¹, Ahmed Elawwa¹, Amal Khalifa¹, Maryam AlMaadheed¹, Tasneem R Abdel-Karim¹, Noor Hamed¹, Houda Afyouni¹, Hajar Dauleh¹, Ahmed Shamekh¹, Mahmoud Al-Zyoud¹, Fawziya AlKhalaf¹, Goran Petrovski¹, Khalid Hussain^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar.
² Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatric Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Al Luqta Street, Education City North Campus, PO Box 26999, Doha, Qatar.
³ University College London, London, UK.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the epidemiology, clinical, biochemical, immunological and radiological aspects of youth with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Patients under 18 year of age with type 2 diabetes were recruited from 2018 to 2020, clinical data collected, autoantibodies (GAD65, IAA, IA2 and ZnT8), insulin, ALT and c-peptide were measured. Hepatic ultrasound was performed for assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Results: 104 patients were identified. The incidence in 2020 and prevalence per 100,000 was 2.51 and 23.7, respectively. The age of onset was between 8.5 and 18 years with 74% of the patients being of Qatari nationality. Males were more affected than females (1.5/1). Overweight/obesity was present in 98% of all the patients, a positive family history (either both parents or a single parent) in 71% and maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in 60% of patients. More than 90% of the patients had acanthosis nigricans. 5 patients had 1 autoantibody positivity and hepatic ultrasound detected evidence of NAFLD in majority of patients.

Conclusion: Obesity, maternal GDM and family history of diabetes were the key risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes. Autoantibody positivity may be present in youth type 2 diabetes. As youth type 2 diabetes is associated with early onset microvascular and macrovascular complications, these findings have important social and health budget implications for Qatar. Tackling the burden of maternal GDM and childhood obesity and building programmes for early detection and intervention, are therefore, essential to reduce the risk of future complications.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Obesity; Paediatric diabetes; Type 2 diabetes.