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The rate of childhood obesity in the United States has more than doubled in the past 20 years, bringing with it more children at risk for developing type 1 and even type 2 diabetes.
Despite this growing trend, the number of board-certified pediatric endocrinologists — those physicians who specialize in caring for children with diabetes and obese children at risk for the disease — is not keeping pace with demand for their specialized care, say researchers at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
Results from a new study published in the March issue of The Journal of Pediatrics show that at the national level, for every 290 children with diabetes, there is only one board-certified pediatric endocrinologist available to care for them. It also finds that the ratio of obese children to board-certified pediatric endocrinologists is about 17,000-to-1.
“Although the American Diabetes Association recommends that all children with diabetes be cared for by a pediatric endocrinologist as part of a diabetes team, there is a current shortage of pediatric endocrinologists in this country,” says study lead author Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist and member of the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit in the Division of General Pediatrics. “This problem will likely only worsen due to the recent epidemic of childhood obesity.”
Currently, 16.5 percent of American children ages 6 to 19 are obese.
“Even if just a small fraction of obese children are referred to a pediatric endocrinologist for evaluation, the overall ratio of one pediatric endocrinologist to 17,000 obese children makes providing the necessary care extremely challenging,” says Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the Medical School.
In addition to Lee, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital co-authors are Dr. Matthew M. Davis, associate professor of general pediatrics and internal medicine, and associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Dr. Ram Menon, professor, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, and director of pediatric endocrinology; and Dr. Gary Freed, Percy and Mary Murphy Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health Delivery, and chief of the Division of General Pediatrics.
