Original Articles

Clinical characteristics of adolescents and young adults with type 2 diabetes and Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies: a single-center experience in China from 2011 to 2023

  • WU Jing ,
  • WANG Le ,
  • GUO Xiangyu ,
  • GAO Kuo ,
  • LIU Jinmin
Expand
  • 1 Department of Endocrinology, Dongfang Hospital Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100071, China
    2 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China
    3 Department of Neurosurgery, Dongzhimen Hospital Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100010, China
GAO Kuo, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China. gk@bucm.edu.cn;
LIU Jinmin, Department of Neurosurgery, Dongzhimen Hospital Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100010, China. jmvip@vip.163.com, Telephone: +86-10-67689769

Received date: 2025-01-12

  Accepted date: 2025-06-30

  Online published: 2026-06-08

Supported by

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities: Study on the Mechanism of Chaibei Zhixian Decoction in Treating Refractory Epilepsy through the Nitric Oxide Synthase- Reactive Oxygen Species-Ferroptosis Pathway(2025-JYB-XJSJJ041)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the clinical characteristics of type 2 diabetes in adolescents and young adults (T2DMY) patients, and their treatment strategies involving Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Medicine.

METHODS: This study was conducted at Dongfang Hospital of Beijing University of TCM. Clinical data of outpatients and inpatients from 2011 to 2023 were retrieved from the electronic medical record database with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as the first diagnosis.

RESULTS: A total of 405 outpatients and 570 inpatients with T2DMY were included in the analysis. Compared with middle aged and elderly T2DM patients (T2DME), T2DMY patients have a higher proportion of diabetes family history and higher body mass index, poorer control of blood glucose, blood lipid, liver and kidney function, and a higher incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and gout. In terms of anti-diabetes treatment, T2DMY patients are more likely to receive metformin and insulin drugs. In terms of TCM diagnosis and treatment, compared with T2DME patients, T2DMY patients are more frequently diagnosed with the syndrome of phlegm damp trapped spleen, and more herbs such as Fuling (Poria) and Chenpi (Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae) are more frequently used to invigorate the spleen and dispel dampness.

CONCLUSION: Compared with T2DME patients, T2DMY patients have worse metabolism. In the treatment of TCM, more attention can be paid to the function of the spleen, and the herbal medicine can be used to enhance the function of the spleen and dispell dampness when it is compatible with Qitonifying drugs.

Cite this article

WU Jing , WANG Le , GUO Xiangyu , GAO Kuo , LIU Jinmin . Clinical characteristics of adolescents and young adults with type 2 diabetes and Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies: a single-center experience in China from 2011 to 2023[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2026 , 46(3) : 706 -714 . DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.03.010

References

1. Lascar N, Brown J, Pattison H, Barnett AH, Bailey CJ, Bellary S. Type 2 diabetes in adolescents and young adults. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2018; 6: 69-80.
2. Li Y, Teng D, Shi X, et al. Prevalence of diabetes recorded in mainland China using 2018 diagnostic criteria from the American Diabetes Association: national cross sectional study. BMJ 2020; 369: 997.
3. Xie J, Wang M, Long Z, et al. Global burden of type 2 diabetes in adolescents and young adults, 1990-2019: systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. BMJ 2022; 379: e072385.
4. Bjornstad P, Drews KL, Caprio S, et al. Long-term complications in youth-onset type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med 2021; 385: 416-26.
5. Xu L, Zhao W, Wang D, Ma X. Chinese Medicine in the battle against obesity and metabolic diseases. Front Physiol 2018; 9: 850.
6. Nie Q, Chen H, Hu J, et al. Arabinoxylan Attenuates Type 2 diabetes by improvement of carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. Mol Nutr Food Res 2018; 62: e1800222.
7. Pang B, Lian FM, Zhao XY, et al. Prevention of type 2 diabetes with the traditional Chinese patent medicine: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2017; 131: 242-59.
8. Nie Q, Chen H, Hu J, Fan S, Nie S. Dietary compounds and Traditional Chinese Medicine ameliorate type 2 diabetes by modulating gut microbiota. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2019; 59: 848-63.
9. Magliano DJ, Sacre JW, Harding JL, Gregg EW, Zimmet PZ, Shaw JE. Young-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus-implications for morbidity and mortality. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2020; 16: 321-31.
10. Huo X, Gao L, Guo L, et al. Risk of non-fatal cardiovascular diseases in early-onset versus late-onset type 2 diabetes in China: a cross-sectional study. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2016; 4: 115-24.
11. Lin SF, Xiao Y. Mechanism of “homotherapy of different diseases” in hedysarum multijugum maxim and Radix Salviae in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy and hypertensive nephropathy based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. Zhong Guo Yi Yuan Yong Yao Ping Jia Yu Fen Xi 2024; 24: 1429-33.
12. Willemsen G, Ward KJ, Bell CG, et al. The concordance and heritability of type 2 diabetes in 34 166 twin pairs from international twin registers: the discordant twin (DISCOTWIN) consortium. Twin Res Hum Genet 2015; 18: 762-71.
13. Newton KP, Hou J, Crimmins NA, et al. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis clinical research network. prevalence of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. JAMA Pediatr 2016; 170: e161971.
14. Hannon TS, Arslanian SA. The changing face of diabetes in youth: lessons learned from studies of type 2 diabetes. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2015; 1353: 113-37.
15. Arslanian S, Bacha F, Grey M, Marcus MD, White NH, Zeitler P. Evaluation and management of youth-onset type 2 diabetes: a position statement by the American diabetes association. Diabetes Care 2018; 41: 2648-68.
16. Wang J, Ma Q, Li Y, et al. Research progress on Traditional Chinese Medicine syndromes of diabetes mellitus. Biomed Pharmacother 2020; 121: 109565.
17. Chao CL, Huang HC, Lin HC, Chang TC, Chang WL. Sesquiterpenes from Baizhu stimulate glucose uptake by activating AMPK and PI3K. Am J Chin Med 2016; 44: 963-79.
18. Li C, Zhang K, Liu L, et al. Study of the mechanism of Astragali Radix in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus and its renal protection based on enzyme activity, network pharmacology, and experimental verification. Molecules 2023; 28: 8030.
19. Su M, Tang T, Tang W, Long Y, Wang L, Liu M. Astragalus improves intestinal barrier function and immunity by acting on intestinal microbiota to treat T2DM: a research review. Front Immunol 2023; 14: 1243834.
20. Sun L, Yang Z, Zhao W, et al. Integrated lipidomics, transcriptomics and network pharmacology analysis to reveal the mechanisms of Danggui Buxue decoction in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Ethnopharmacol 2022; 283: 114699.
21. Tong X, Xu J, Lian F, et al. Structural alteration of gut microbiota during the amelioration of human type 2 diabetes with hyperlipidemia by metformin and a traditional Chinese herbal formula: a multicenter, randomized, open label clinical trial. mBio 2018; 9: e02392-17.
22. Wang J, Wang L, Lou GH, et al. Coptidis rhizoma: a comprehensive review of its traditional uses, botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology. Pharm Biol 2019; 57: 193-225.
Outlines

/