Type Matters: Children with T2 Diabetes Have More Heart Structure Changes than Children with T1 Diabetes

Published July 2021 | Cardiovascular Diabetology

A cross-sectional analysis spearheaded by Cincinnati Children’s finds that children and young adults with youth-onset type 2 diabetes have worse left ventricle structural changes and diastolic function than those with type 1 diabetes.

Researchers from multiple institutions used data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Led by Amy Shah, MD, MS, Lawrence Dolan, MD, and Elaine Urbina, MD, MS, investigators compared left ventricular structure and diastolic function from two-dimensional echocardiogram studies for patients in the SEARCH study group.

The team used linear models to examine the risk factors associated with worse diastolic function. The analysis showed abnormal diastolic function in both groups compared to published values from age-similar healthy controls.

One challenge posed by the study was that echocardiograms are not routinely obtained in patients with diabetes unless high blood pressure is present, says Shah. Echocardiograms are available at most health centers, but the test can be expensive. It’s also important to have standardized protocols for acquiring images and interpreting them.

“Until now we didn’t know whether there was thickening of the left ventricle or changes in diastolic function in this population or that there was a difference by diabetes type,” Shah says.

After 20 years of funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the SEARCH study has ended.

Shah says it will be important to follow the young adults from the study as they age. Doing so will help explain the true meaning of these findings.

“We were just hitting a time in these youth and young adult lives where we were seeing early heart complications,” Shah says.