The number of young people in the country with diabetes and pre-diabetes has skyrocketed, jumping from 9 percent of the adolescent population a decade ago to 23 percent in 2008, new research finds.
The findings are from a study published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers examined health data from about 3,400 adolescents ages 12 to 19 from 1999 through 2008, who were tracked between 1999 and 2008 as part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
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Though teenage obesity and overweight rates had leveled off in recent years, the rate for teens is still about 34 percent.
Other cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure and bad cholesterol, were stable during that period, but remain relatively high, the study found.
The report also found overall, half of overweight teens and almost two-thirds of obese adolescents have one or more risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high levels of bad cholesterol.
By comparison, about one-third of normal-weight adolescents have at least one risk factor.
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