Global, regional, and national burden of early-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus among individuals aged 15 to 39 years between 1990 and 2021: Findings from the global burden of disease study 2021

This study aims to describe the changing patterns of early-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among people aged 15 to 39 years globally, regionally, and nationally between 1990 and 2021. We assessed the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and incidence burden of early-onset T2DM across the worldwide, regional, and national levels, clarified the percentage of the worldwide DALYs burden caused by 15 different risk factors, and predicted the trends between 2022 and 2035 through the projection model. The counts of global incident and DALYs cases of early-onset T2DM increased during the study phase. The worldwide estimated annual percent changes for age-standardized DALYs rate and age-standardized incidence rate recorded 2.10% (95% confidence interval: 2.01%-2.18%) and 2.45% (95% confidence interval: 2.38%-2.53%), respectively. The burden of males generally exceeded that of females globally. Regionally, low socio-demographic index areas experienced the greatest growth in the counts of DALYs and incident cases, and the largest values were detected in middle socio-demographic index areas in 2021. High body mass index accounted for the greatest percentage of all risk factors for global and regional DALYs due to early-onset T2DM in 2021. The percentage of DALYs caused by each risk factor varied by region, and males exhibited a greater share of DALYs attributed to smoking than females. The age-standardized incidence rate and age-standardized DALYs rate of both sexes were predicted to exhibit upward patterns globally between 2022 and 2035. To alleviate the substantial burden of early-onset T2DM, interventions should be tailored based on regional variations, economic levels, and attributable risk factors.