Adults who develop type 2 diabetes before age 40 have an excess of hospitalisations during their lifetime, including an “unexpectedly” large burden of serious mental illness in young adulthood, according to a population-based study from Hong Kong.

Although an increased risk of distress and anxiety in young people with diabetes has been noted previously, this high risk of hospitalisation has not been reported before, says author Dr Juliana Chan, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

“Efforts to prevent young-onset diabetes and intensify cardiometabolic risk factor control while focusing on mental health are urgently needed,” Dr Chan and colleagues wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

They examined two large cohorts of adults with type 2 diabetes to determine the effects of age at onset and modifiable risk factors on hospitalisation between ages 20 and 75.