Multidisciplinary management of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents

Although once considered a disease of adults, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in youth is increasing at a significant rate. Similar to adults, youth with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for developing hypertension, lipid abnormalities, renal disease, and other diabetes-related complications. However, children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes also face many unique management challenges that are different from adults with type 2 diabetes or children with type 1 diabetes. To deliver safe, effective, high-quality, cost-effective health care to adolescents with type 2 diabetes, reorganization and redesign of health care systems are needed. Multidisciplinary health care teams, which allow individuals with specialized training to maximally utilize their skills within an organized diabetes treatment team, may increase efficiency and effectiveness and may improve outcomes in children with type 2 diabetes. This review article provides a brief review of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents, provides an overview of multidisciplinary health care teams, and discusses the role of multidisciplinary health care management in youth with type 2 diabetes.