Increase in hospital admissions for young diabetic women in the US

A new report has revealed a dramatic rise in diabetes hospitalisations for young women in the US over the last 10 years. The study, by the University of Michigan Health System, found a shift in the burden of hospitalisations and an increasing financial burden for insurance providers .
Published in the Journal of Women’s Health, the researchers revealed that there had been a rapid increase in the number of hospitalisations due to diabetes for young adults, especially young women, and that the pattern reflected a rise in rates of obesity across the United States in the last few years.
It was shown that diabetes hospitalisations rose by 66 per cent for all ages and sexes, but that the number of diabetes hospitalisations among younger adults aged between 30 and 39 more than doubled from 1993 to 2006. Young women were found to be 1.3 times more likely to be hospitalised than young men, most likely due to higher rates of obesity for women as opposed to men in this age group.
Joyce Lee, who wrote the study, commented “Our findings suggest that further attention must be paid to the young adult population. We need more diabetes prevention interventions targeting the young adult population, and women in particular, to prevent further increases in diabetes. In addition, we need more medical care interventions to improve the overall health of young adults with diabetes .”