Burden of Complications in U.S. Adults With Young-Onset Type 2 or Type 1 Diabetes

Young-onset type 2 diabetes has a more aggressive clinical course than type 2 diabetes that occurs at an older age (1). Accruing evidence suggests that young adults with type 2 diabetes have complication rates exceeding those of individuals of similar age with type 1 diabetes (1–3). However, prior studies have focused on select populations and the generalizability of their findings is not clear. To address this gap in the literature, we analyzed recent national data to characterize the prevalence of complications among U.S. adults with young-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes.We pooled data from the 2016 and 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The NHIS is the only representative U.S. study that collects self-reported information on types of diabetes. Participants reported whether they had ever been diagnosed with diabetes other than during pregnancy. Those with diagnosed diabetes reported the type of diabetes (type 1, type 2, other), age of diagnosis, and use of antidiabetes medication.Following past research, we defined young-onset type 2 diabetes as being diagnosed before age 40 (1). We defined young-onset type 1 diabetes using this same cut point for comparability. We classified …