Dieci domande su: Sindrome metabolica e diabete mellito di tipo 2 dell’adolescente

The prevalence and magnitude of childhood obesity are increasing dramatically around the world, including Europe and Mediterranean countries such as Italy which seemed somehow to be protected by their eating habits and cultural factors. Obesity plays an important pathogenic role in the metabolic syndrome and in type 2 diabetes in adolescents; this latter was virtually unknown in Italy until a few years ago. Here we briefly describe the pathogenesis and treatment of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents, and also present original data collected during a survey by the ISPED National Study Group on Diabetes on the phenotypic characteristics of the first cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus in adolescents in Italy.