Young adults with type 2 diabetes should ideally be treated to a “more stringent” glycated haemoglobin target of 6.5% or under, according to the first guidance for this age group.

SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists can also be prescribed for affected patients aged 18-30 years given their elevated risk of cardiovascular and renal complications, clinicians say.

The recommendations, developed by the nation’s peak diabetes groups, are contained in an Australian-first consensus statement on the management of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in young adults.

Published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, the summary advises a more intense strategy to treat what the authors label a “more aggressive phenotype” than later-onset disease.