ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1626225
Global, regional, and national trends and burden of diabetes mellitus type 2 among youth from 1990 to 2021: An analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
- 2Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
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Background Although studies have looked at type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in adults, global studies on youth with T2DM are relatively scarce. Given this research gap, understanding the global, regional, and national trends and burden of T2DM in this special population is critical to developing effective preventive control measures and strategies. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the specific challenges facing different populations and regions to ultimately guide global action. Methods Based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021, the incidence, prevalence, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) of youth with T2DM aged 15-24 years from 1990 to 2021 were extracted and analyzed at global, regional, and national levels. Point estimates with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) were used to calculate the average annual percentage changes (AAPCs) of incidence, prevalence, and DALYs. Subsequently, trends were thoroughly analyzed at the global, regional, and national levels, and the global trends were analyzed in detail by factors like age, sex, and social development index. Results The global incidence, prevalence, and DALYs of T2DM in youth increased to varying degrees from 1990 to 2021. With an AAPC of 2.62 (95% CI: 2.42 - 2.81), the global incidence of T2DM increased from 56.0 per 100 000 population in 1990 to 123.9 per 100 000 population in 2021. The incidence of increase in males (AAPC 2.68, 95% CI: 2.47 - 2.89) was higher than in females (AAPC 2.51, 95% CI: 2.35 - 2.66). The incidence increased with increasing age, but the largest increase was found in youth aged 15-19 years (AAPC 2.72, 95% CI: 2.47 - 2.96). High SDI areas saw the greatest increase in incident rates (AAPC 3.48, 95% UI: 3.43 - 3.52) compared with other areas. Conclusion The increasing global incidence, prevalence, and DALYs of T2DM in youth presented a large burden to public health over the past thirty years, while the trends and burden vary by region, nation, gender, age, and level of development. Our study highlights the significance of developing targeted public health policies and strategies to respond to the heterogeneity among youth with T2DM.
Keywords: Youth, T2DM, GBD 2021, Incidence, Prevalence, Disability-adjusted life years
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 29 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 邓, Lu, Zeng and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jianfeng Zeng, 452569057@qq.com
Houming Liu, eric120@126.com
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