1,000 Students in Oxnard Take Part in Diabetes Study

About 1,000 Oxnard High School students took part in a health survey Monday to help determine if Latino children in Ventura County are at high risk of developing a rare and difficult-to-detect form of diabetes.

The health survey was prompted by a 1990 study by the Pediatric Diagnostic Center of Ventura that found an unusually high number of students in six Ventura County high schools with diabetes, officials said. But the earlier study did not provide a breakdown of each student’s race, sex or family medical history.

For years, epidemiologists have known that Latinos develop diabetes at a significantly higher rate than other segments of the population. This, coupled with the fact that Latinos make up a large percentage of the county’s student population, prompted the diagnostic center to conduct a more detailed study to see if there is an excessive prevalence of “maturity onset diabetes” among this group, said Dr. Chris Landon, director of the diagnostic center.

Diabetes is a disease caused by the failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin to break down sugars in the bloodstream. Unregulated blood-sugar levels can have severe side effects including loss of kidneys, problems with the heart and gall bladder, blindness and, in extreme cases, early death.

Most cases of diabetes occur among adults and are often related to being overweight. In cases among children and teen-agers, known as maturity onset diabetes, they are associated with an inherited tendency for the disease.

Maturity onset diabetes usually goes undetected until its advanced stages because its symptoms are generally more subtle than other forms of diabetes, Landon said.

Health officials usually expect to find one out of every 1,000 students at a given school who has developed diabetes, Landon said. But the 1990 health survey of county schools found that Oxnard High had eight diabetic students, seven of whom were Latino.

Oxnard High School’s enrollment of 2,300 students includes 1,541 Latinos, Landon said. Similar breakdowns were found at Channel Island High School, Rio Mesa High, Ventura High, Buena High and Fillmore High. Except for Buena High, 50% or more of the enrollments at each of the schools is Latino.

The 1990 survey found that out of a total of 11,180 students at the six high schools--including 5,747 Latinos--a total of 28 had diabetes.

“We had 10 times the predicted incidence of diabetes in high school children in Ventura County,” Landon said.

On Monday, health officials evaluated all ninth-grade students at Oxnard High for their height, weight and body fat. Obesity is a significant factor in developing diabetes because it can result in the body becoming resistant to the insulin.

Dr. Naomi D. Neufeld, a pediatrician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who works with the pediatric center in Ventura, said that even when children get regular physical examinations the symptoms of maturity onset diabetes can be so subtle that it can go undetected unless the blood-sugar level is tested.

Some symptoms of the disease include excessive urination, blurred vision, abdominal cramping and fatigue.

People can have the disorder for several years without getting sick enough to go to the doctor, “so you don’t end up seeing the disease until the people are in their 30s,” Neufeld said.

The sad thing is that maturity onset diabetes is preventable, she said.

“The key to prevention is exercise and maintaining normal weight,” Neufeld said. Those who do develop the disease can be treated with strict dieting and medication.

Neufeld said family histories gathered from students Tuesday will provide officials with a better sense of those at high risk for developing the disease.

Two Latino students evaluated Tuesday said they have family members with some form of diabetes.

Angela Banuelos, 15, said her grandmother has diabetes, and Ana Gonzalez, also 15, said her father and grandmother have the disease.

Both were pleased that they were part of Monday’s survey.

“I think it’s cool because that way you know,” Angela said. “I think I might have it.”

Neufeld said that once the results of Tuesday’s survey are compiled--which should take about a month--some high-risk students will be selected for blood tests to determine their blood-sugar levels. Those found to be at risk will then be put into treatment programs.

Neufeld said the diagnostic center recently received a $25,000 federal grant to conduct the diabetes survey. She said officials hope to receive more grants in the future to develop a comprehensive program to identify, treat and prevent maturity onset diabetes.