When children and young people develop type 2 diabetes, it is a serious condition that can shorten their lives. People diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before they are 30 live, on average, 14 years less than if they did not have the condition.
Type 2 diabetes is also becoming more common in young people. In 2022/23, 1,200 children were being cared for in diabetes clinics in England and Wales.
Not all social and ethnic groups are affected equally. Almost half of young people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before age 30 are from areas with the highest deprivation or are of South-Asian or African-Caribbean descent, and most are female.
In Bradford, most children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes continue to have the condition as adults.
Project aims
We want to find out whether group clinics held in the community are a more successful way of treating and managing children and young people’s type 2 diabetes.
In this project we aim to:
• Find out about the experiences of children and young people with type 2 diabetes, and their families.
• Together with patients, their families and medical staff, produce a proposal for a children and young people’s type 2 diabetes service in Bradford.
What we hope to achieve
The main outcome of this project will be a proposal for a children and young people’s type 2 diabetes community service. The proposal will then be implemented and evaluated in future work.
This is part of wider research to better understand type 2 diabetes in children and young people and find effective ways to prevent and treat it.
