Yale joins diabetes trial

The School of Medicine has joined 11 other medical centers in a national study that will compare three treatments for type 2 diabetes in children and teenagers. The study is the first clinical trial to look at the impact of intensive lifestyle change designed to lower weight by cutting calories and increasing exercise. It is also the first trial sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to focus on type 2 diabetes in youth.

The five-year trial will look at how each treatment option, including drugs currently used in adults, controls blood glucose levels in younger patients. It will also evaluate safety and the effects of treatments on insulin production, insulin resistance, body composition, nutrition, physical fitness and risk factors for disease.

The principal investigator at Yale is Sonia Caprio, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics (endocrinology).