Key Summary
- England recorded an increase in young women developing type 2 diabetes.
- It is vital that those at risk are diagnosed early to prevent long-term organ damage.
- The researchers say newer obesity treatments might help.
There is an increase in young women in their 20s developing type 2 diabetes in England, according to a study.
The study by experts at Imperial College London is the first to examine trends in new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes (T2D) across the entire English population, while stratifying analyses by age, sex and ethnicity.
Overall, incidence declined among older adults, who still account for most new cases, but increased sharply in people younger than 40.
This upward shift is driven mainly by younger women.
Ethnicities at risk
The analysis shows that the rise is particularly noticeable in White, Asian and Black women aged 20–29 years, and in White women aged 30–39 years.
Dr Shivani Misra from the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction at Imperial College London, who led the study, said, “Much of the discussion around rising type 2 diabetes in younger people has focused on ethnic minority groups. While these ethnic groups are disproportionately affected with early-onset type 2 diabetes, we now see that incidence is also increasing in White populations too, showing that this public health challenge is broadening across the generation.”
The researchers also found a marked increase in body mass index (BMI) at diagnosis among younger adults.
BMI at diagnosis has climbed faster in younger age groups than in older ones - roughly twice the rise seen in older adults - suggesting successive younger generations are developing T2D at higher levels of obesity.
In particular, younger White women had mean BMIs close to 40 kg/m², a threshold considered severe obesity. Reasons why older adults’ BMI at diagnosis has changed less are unclear.
Older adults are not experiencing as large an increase in BMI at diagnosis, but the reasons remain unclear.
The authors say the findings highlight an urgent need to rethink approaches to type 2 diabetes and obesity prevention, with greater focus on reaching younger adults.
Potential strategies could include earlier use of effective weight-management treatments such as GLP-1 medicines.
The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust and supported by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, a translational research partnership between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London.
