LET’S MAKE A DIFFERENCE: EARLY SCREENING FOR PREDIABETES AND TYPE 2 DIABETES IN CANADIAN ABORIGINAL YOUTH

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is one of the fastest growing paediatric chronic diseases worldwide.1 Canadian Aboriginal children are disproportionately affected by T2D, with an incidence rate estimated at 1.54 per 100,000 children per year.2 Recent research found that Aboriginal youth with diabetes experience higher risk for early complications and premature death than non-Aboriginal.3 These authors argued that young people with diabetes have a prolonged exposure to the metabolic consequences of this disease. Although a number of studies have examined the projected incidence rates and potential risk factors for T2D in the adolescent population, the true prevalence rate of prediabetes and T2D is underestimated specifically in the Aboriginal adolescent cohort. To our knowledge, this is the first population-based investigation into the prevalence of prediabetes in Canadian Aboriginal adolescents in the last decade