Over 800 million people globally have a type of diabetes, with numbers steadily rising. November 14 marks World Diabetes Day. This year the theme is ‘diabetes across life stages.’ It highlights that diabetes can affect people at all ages, aims to improve prevention, and seeks to empower diabetics young and old alike. We’re highlighting five recently published articles on aging and diabetes.

Young people are more than twice as likely to have diabetes than 30 years ago

Risk factors for type 2 diabetes (T2D) are multifold, they may include behavioral, environmental, and social factors, but also genetics or epigenetics may play a role. Young people can be especially insulin resistant and make up a disadvantaged group who might have less access to high-quality healthcare, compared to adults with T2D.

In a new Frontiers in Endocrinology study, researchers in China set out to understand trends and burden of T2DM in younger people.

Their results showed that between 1990 and 2021 the global incidence of T2D in people aged 15 to 24 years old increased from 56 per 100,000 people to 123.9 per 100,000 people, which means the number of individuals changing in status from non-disease to disease has more than doubled. The sharpest increase of new cases was found in youth aged 15 to 19 years and was higher among males than females. In specific regions – North Africa and the Middle East – the increase in new cases was highest, which highlights the importance of developing targeted strategies and interventions to address T2D among youth, the researchers wrote.

Article link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1626225/full

Extreme heat or cold could lead to negative diabetes outcomes

Diabetes and a changing climate are two of the grand challenges of our time. More than 11% of the world’s population has diabetes, and case numbers are expected to rise over the coming decades. At the same time, the effects of climate change – extreme temperatures, wildfires, food security, water quality, and disease vector distribution to name a few – impact both human and planetary health.

Writing in Frontiers in Public Health, an international team of researchers has examined the impact that extreme heat or cold has on the risk of diabetes, disease-related emergencies, and mortality.

Compling data from 13 previously published articles, they found that extreme temperatures significantly increase likeliness of adverse diabetes-related events, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and risk of diabetes-related deaths. This may be due to the fact that people with diabetes are more prone to impaired thermoregulation and autonomic dysfunction. Excessive heat can cause dehydration, systemic inflammation, or impaired nervous system functioning, whereas extreme cold can lead to minimized physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle which can lead to obesity and insulin resistance.

Article link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1677522/full

Less common types of diabetes might disrupt sleep

There are many types of diabetes, and some are better known and studied than others. Most frequent and best studied is T2D, but we know of more forms of diabetes including type 1 (T1D); monogenic diabetes (MODY), which includes various inherited types and neonatal diabetes; drug-induced diabetes; and other disease-associated forms.

Now, researchers in the US and Ecuador reviewed the current state of knowledge on the relationship between sleep patterns and diabetes management in people with less common forms of diabetes, namely T1D and monogenic diabetes. They published the results in Frontiers in Endocrinology.

They found that – like people with T2D who are more likely to have shorter sleep duration, poorer sleep quality, and increased risk of sleep apnea – T1D patients are more likely to sleep shorter and poorer. Both adults and children with T1D often don’t sleep the recommended number of hours for their age. MODY patients, too, sleep poorer, are more likely to suffer from insomnia and sleep apnea. The mechanism and differences between different types of monogenic diabetes, however, aren’t fully known. In the future, pediatric and adult large-scale cohort studies should be carried out to improve understanding of sleep quality in less common forms of diabetes, the researchers said.

Article link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1388995/full

This digital twin could help optimize diabetes treatment

While various treatments and medications for T2D are available, not all drugs and dosing approaches work the same for all patients. To prevent adverse disease outcomes, individual treatment plans are essential.

Now, writing in a recently published Frontiers in Pharmacology article, researchers in Germany developed a whole-body model that simulates how glimepiride, an antidiabetic medication, moves into, though, and out of the body.

The model uses data from 20 clinical studies, which means diverse patient populations, treatment plans, dosing regimens, and health conditions are included. It comprises key organs involved in glimepiride absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, such as gut, liver, and kidneys. The digital twin doesn’t simply focus on one variable, instead it integrates multiple patient factors, including organ function, bodyweight, and genetics, at the same time. Being able to reflect complex clinical realities found in real patients, the twin can aid with the personalization of glimepiride therapy and support clinical decisions on initial dosing to ensure patient safety, the team wrote.

Article link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1686415/full

Diabetes might make keeping balance harder

Keeping balance is essential in daily life, and we do it countless times without thinking about it. Aging and aging related conditions, including T2D, may limit balance control.

In a recent Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience article, researchers in the US examined the effects of T2D on the small, unconscious, movements the body makes to keep balance, known as postural sway, among older adults. The sample was made up of 24 non-diabetic older adults and 20 older adults with T2D, with participants in both groups older than 65 years. They carried out a single task (quiet standing) and a dual task (standing and visual search).

The results showed that the T2D group showed signs of reduced postural stability during both tasks, compared to the non-diabetic group. Less postural control and greater disruption thereof among T2D patients could increase risk of falls, but longitudinal studies are necessary to track changes in postural control over time to better understand their relationship to fall risk in older adults with T2D, the team wrote.

Article link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1650484/full

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