Social work in the pediatric endocrinology and diabetes setting: Fighting the new epidemic of type 2 diabetes in children

Epidemic levels of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are now evident in children (Caprio et al., 2008). Once called adult-onset diabetes, T2DM was renamed to reflect the growing number of children affected (CDC, 2014). While this type of diabetes is associated with a genetic predisposition, the single trigger that activates the gene during childhood is obesity. A complex web of environmental, economic, political, cultural, genetic, and psychological factors have changed our lifestyle into one that promotes obesity (Bowen, Barrington, & Beresford, 2015). Currently, one third of all children in the United States, from birth through 19, are overweight or obese (CDC, 2014). This statistic foreshadows disastrous repercussions for affected children as well as potential economic havoc for our health care and insurance systems. Responses to the epidemic appear to be gaining momentum. As a result, the prevalence of childhood obesity, which had increased in the 1980s and 1990s, showed no significant change between 1999 and 2008 (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegan, 2012). Society, when motivated, can act effectively to stop this needless epidemic, especially in children (Dabelea, 2009).