Diabetes Mellitus: Childhood & Adolescence

About 29 million Americans (9.3% of the population) in 2012 had diabetes. Approximately 1.25 million American children and adults have type 1 diabetes, and almost all diabetes in children less than 10 years of age is type 1. About 208,000 people younger than 20 years (0.25 % of this age group) have been diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 or type 2). Diabetes care requires a collaborative approach with multi-disciplinary professionals involved from the health, nursing, social and educational fields in order to provide optimal service to the child or adolescent and their family. Early diagnosis, treatment and monitoring can prevent or delay the long-term complications in various organs of the body, and regular care and service to this population is therefore essential. In this book, we provide a short overview of issues involved in diabetes care for children and adolescents.