NEW YORK, MARLO.of the University of Sydney (Australia).

The investigation, whose results publishes the magazine 'Diabetes Care', revealed that when it is diagnosed between 15 and 30 years people have more neurological damage and symptoms of renal disease than those who have been with the disease the same time but have been diagnosed when they hadbetween 40 and 50 years.They also have a higher risk of mortality than those who do not have diabetes.

"We know that many years are needed to develop diabetes complications," said Jencia Wong, the main author of the study that also works at the Diabetes Center of the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney, which admits that when the disease appears before "they haveMore risk of living more time with high levels of blood glucose and other risk factors. "

The researchers analyzed the data of 354 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between adolescence and youth, and 1,062 patients with a more common diagnosis, between 40 and 50 years.All were included in the database 'Australian National Death Index', which allowed them to monitor the complications and deaths related to the disease.

In their analysis they compared the situation of the patients who had been diagnosed when they were young with that of those older diagnosed but had a similar period of time with the disease.

Similar metabolic syndrome

Both groups had similar rates of metabolic syndrome, a group of factors including abdominal obesity, cholesterol and blood pressure, which as a whole can increase the risk of heart disease.But those diagnosed at an advanced age were more likely to have received treatment for the last two factors.

Likewise, those diagnosed at a younger age had higher levels of albuminuria, a urine protein that can early alert diabetic nephropathy.Also, younger diagnostic patients also have greater diabetic neuropathy.

On average, patients were followed for 10 years, either until they died or until the study ended.And the global death risk in that period was higher in younger diagnosed patients, with a mortality rate more than three times greater than the general population.Instead, those diagnosed at more advanced ages had a mortality similar to that of the general population.

"Higher levels of glucose in an elderly does not influence long -term risk, beyond age itself," said Wong, who asks not to underestimate the impact of diabetes when detected on younger people.

In these cases, this expert has recognized, doctors must keep in mind that perhaps it is not enough to recommend healthier lifestyles since "it is a serious problem that must be recognized and treated as such."