Type 2 Diabetes Program

Our research 

Because diabetes is a chronic condition that requires lifelong management, our researchers as well as those in the Optimal Weight for Life Program and the Diabetes Program at Boston Children’s Hospital are investigating the disease in order to understand how it develops and how it can be treated. 

Here are some of the studies we’ve been doing: 

• Health-related quality of life in adolescents with or at risk for type 2 diabetes
• Estimated morbidity and mortality in adolescents and young adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
• Preferences for type 2 diabetes health states among adolescents with or at risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
• Training in childhood obesity management in the United States: a survey of pediatric, internal medicine-pediatrics and family medicine residency program directors.
• Pediatric obesity management: variation by specialty and awareness of guidelines.
• Screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents: attitudes, barriers and practices among pediatric clinicians.

Here are some of the published commentaries from our researchers:

• Type 2 diabetes mellitus in children: primary care and public health considerations
• Obesity: guiding the management of pediatric obesity
• Childhood obesity as a chronic disease: keeping the weight off
• The glycemic index: physiological mechanisms relating to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease 

We’re also engaged in a variety of studies that seek to improve the treatment and ongoing management of overweight children and adolescents and those with type 2 diabetes. Your participation in any study is completely optional—your decision to take part or not will have no effect on the quality of care that you receive. For more information on these studies in which your child may be eligible to participate, visit Optimal Weight for Life Program Research. 

At Boston Children’s, all of our researchers are focused on the best ways of translating their findings into improved care for children with diabetes.