DIABETES in children has surged nearly 40 per cent in the last 30 years, scientists warn.
Cases increased from 9.31 to 11.61 per 100,000 from 1990 to 2019 across the globe, Chinese researchers found.
While diabetes deaths in children fell during the period, they remained high, they warned.
Dr Kevin Zhang, of Weifang Medical University, said: “Childhood diabetes is an increasing global health challenge with rising incidence.
“For many years, childhood diabetes generally constituted type 1 diabetes.
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“Recently, the global epidemic of childhood obesity has led to an increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in children.”
More than 1,500 children aged under 19 had type 2 diabetes in 2020, according to the latest NHS data.
The condition causes blood sugar levels to become too high and is more common in overweight and obese people.
It can lead to deadly complications, including heart disease and stroke, as well as nerve damage, blindness and kidney problems.
Experts are concerned about rising childhood obesity levels, with one in 10 children aged four to five being obese in England last year, and a further 12 per cent overweight.
The numbers were higher in children aged 10 to 11, with nearly a quarter obese and 14.3 per cent overweight in the same year.
The latest study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, looked at how childhood diabetes cases have changed over the last three decades.
Researchers tracked cases and deaths in more than 1.4million children aged up to 14 in 204 countries around the world.
Overall, cases increased 39.4 per cent to 227,580, they estimated.
The biggest increase in cases was seen in North Africa and the Middle East.
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Finland had the highest overall incidence in 2019, while Bangladesh saw the largest death rate.
Deaths associated with the condition fell from 6,719 in 2990 to 5,390 in 2019 globally.
