Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents: Screening

1. The effects of screening on health outcomes in child and adolescent populations reflective of the prevalence of diabetes in the US, particularly American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander youth, who have a higher prevalence of diabetes than White youth.
2. The effects of screening on health outcomes in children and adolescents considered to be at higher risk such as those who are overweight, have obesity, or have a family history of diabetes.
3. The effects of lifestyle interventions, pharmacotherapy, or both for treatment of screen-detected prediabetes and diabetes on health outcomes in children and adolescents, particularly in racial and ethnic groups who have a higher prevalence of diabetes than White youth.
4. Trials (both screening and intervention) focusing on health outcomes such as mortality, cardiovascular morbidity, chronic kidney disease, amputation, visual impairment, neuropathy, and quality of life that are of sufficient duration and sample size.
5. The natural history of prediabetes in children and adolescents, including the identification of factors associated with risk of progression to diabetes or reversion to normoglycemia.

The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for type 2 diabetes in asymptomatic children and adolescents younger than 18 years.

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