Type 2 diabetes affects more and more young people

Type 2 diabetes, often referred to as adult-onset diabetes, is on the rise in Belgium, especially among people in their 20s and 30s, an increase that goes hand in hand with the obesity epidemic, reports De Standaard.

Belgium has not escaped the global rise in cases of type 2 diabetes, one of the two forms of diabetes which previously affected mostly people over the age of 50. Due to a rise in the number of young people diagnosed with the disease in recent years, type 2 diabetes can no longer correctly be referred to as adult-onset diabetes.

"There are now people in their 20s and 30s with type 2, which is something we barely saw 15 years ago," confirms Christophe De Block of the University Hospital Antwerp (UZ Antwerp) in De Standaard. “The increase goes hand in hand with obesity. An unhealthy lifestyle is the reason why young people are affected by type 2.”

A recent study by UZ Antwerp screened 1,241 overweight or obese people of different ages to find out whether they had diabetes. The results show that 12% suffer from type 2, while 47% percent are in a preliminary stage of developing the disease.

Exact figures on the total number of Belgians with diabetes are not available, mainly because most people are unaware that they have the disease, or are at risk of developing it. "If we only count the people who are in a preliminary stage, we are talking about 10 to 15% of the total population," says De Block. “That's over a million people who at serious risk of becoming diabetic.”