Type 2 diabetes in young women increasingly common
British researchers say rates of type 2 diabetes are growing most in women under 40. The disease is often underdiagnosed in women or it's diagnosed
British researchers say rates of type 2 diabetes are growing most in women under 40. The disease is often underdiagnosed in women or it's diagnosed too late to reverse the condition's progression. There used to be a clear-cut way to distinguish diabetes type 1 and type 2. Medical jargon aside Type 1 diabetes was a genetic autoimmune disease that presented in young people. And type 2 diabetes was a disease that presented in older patients in their fifties or sixties due to an unhealthy lifestyle. But that distinction of young and old doesn't work anymore. More and more, younger people are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In England, for example, the biggest increase in new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes is among young women. This was revealed when a team of researchers from Imperial College London evaluated data from an English Diabetes Audit between 2011 and 2024. They found that while the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was decreasing in adults between 60 and 79 years of age, it was rising in under-40-year-olds. The results, published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe journal, showed the sharpest increase was among white, Asian and Black women in their 20s, and in white women in their 30s. "Much of the discussion around rising type 2 diabetes in younger people has focused on ethnic minority groups," said Shivani Misra, the lead author of the study and a clinical associate professor for diabetes at Imperial College London. "While these ethnic groups are disproportionately affected with early-onset type 2 diabetes, we now see that incidence is […] increasing in white populations too, showing that this public health challenge is broadening across the generation," said Misra. Why more young people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes In Germany, the situation is similar to the UK, said Baptist Gallwitz, an endocrinologist and spokesperson for the German Diabetes Society (DDG). "Type 2 diabetes is on the rise in many countries," Gallwitz told DW.
"It's basically a pandemic. In Germany, we're also seeing an increase in children and teenagers diagnosed with the disease." From 2014 to 2023, there was an increase in type 2 diabetes cases of 5.8% a year among youth aged 11 to 17 years, according to a 2026 health report on diabetes released by the DDG. Nigeria faces a silent diabetes epidemic To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video While genetic disposition can play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes, the biggest factor is lifestyle. "We live in a world where we don't move enough and where our nutrition contains too much sugar and too many calories," Gallwitz said. "That leads to more obesity among young people, and that in turn greatly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes." In people with type 2 diabetes, reduced insulin secretion or a weaker effect of insulin on its receptors lead to a higher glucose content in the blood. Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a full loss of insulin-producing cells, leading to severe insulin deficiency. Fighting the rise of diabetes type 2 in young people The increase is particularly concerning because in young patients, the progression of the disease can be more serious than in older patients. "Any diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is serious, but it can be more aggressive in younger people, increasing the risk of devastating complications and cutting lives short," said Helen Kirrane from Diabetes UK, a charity that campaigns on the issue. That's why it's important to intervene early. Gallwitz said the DDG welcomed the introduction of a tax on sugary sodas in Germany, but added that it wasn't enough. DDG is calling for a tiered value-added tax (VAT) system, with fresh fruit and vegetables being sold with no tax, and the VAT increasing the more the products contain saturated fats and sugars.
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