SASKATOON – A long-term study of childhood diabetes has found an alarming increase in the disease among Saskatchewan’s First Nations children, particularly girls.
The study was done by University of Saskatchewan researchers, who tracked diabetes cases between 1980 and 2005.
Dr. Roland Dyck, the lead researcher, says data show that most cases among First Nations children involved the Type 2 variety, which can be controlled through diet, exercise and medication.
Dyck says researchers also discovered that the number of cases involving aboriginal girls increased 400 per cent over the 25-year period.
Dyck says lifestyle is largely to blame for the higher rates, and he hopes the study’s findings will lead to more programs aimed at preventing the disease.
The study has been published in the Canadian Journal for Diabetes. (CJWW, CJLR)
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