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Current Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Youth: Today’s Realities and Lessons from the TODAY Study

  • Pediatric Type 2 Diabetes (PS Zeitler, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The incidence of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents has increased over the last 2 decades, paralleled by an increase in obesity over the same time period. Although the value of lifestyle modification in obese youth is unquestioned, scant evidence for optimal treatment of type 2 diabetes in this age group exists. Despite recent therapeutic drug trials, metformin and insulin are the only medicines currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in youth. Because of recently amended pharmaceutical regulations, however, it is likely that more antidiabetic medications soon will be added to the armamentarium of therapeutic options for youth with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, the recently published TODAY study comparing safety and efficacy of three treatment regimens in maintaining glycemic control in youth with type 2 diabetes has shed new light on the problem.

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Disclosure

Conflicts of interest: M. M. George: none; K. C. Copeland: has received grant support from NIH/NIDDK (grant support of the Today trial), has been a consultant for Novo-Nordisk, Inc. (Advisory panel) and Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. (Consultant, Steering Committee for research study), has received support for travel to meetings for the study or otherwise from NIH/NIDDK (the Today trial), Novo-Nordisk, Inc., and Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Section of Diabetes & Endocrinology, The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, 1200 Children’s Ave, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Minu M. George & Kenneth C. Copeland

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  1. Minu M. George
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  2. Kenneth C. Copeland
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Correspondence to Kenneth C. Copeland.

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George, M.M., Copeland, K.C. Current Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Youth: Today’s Realities and Lessons from the TODAY Study. Curr Diab Rep 13, 72–80 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-012-0334-z

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