FILLMORE : High Diabetes Rate in Youths Studied

About 125 Fillmore High School students have been screened for diabetes this week as part of a study to determine if Latino children in Ventura County are at high risk of developing the disease.

An unusually high number of county students with diabetes were identified in a recent health survey conducted by the Pediatric Diagnostic Center of Ventura.

But the 1990 study did not break down each student’s race, sex or family medical history, said Peggy Frank, a spokeswoman with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a co-sponsor of the study.

Students in Wednesday’s screening had their height, weight and body fat measured, and filled out a form on family medical history.

Their race and sex were also noted, officials said.

About 25 of the students tested had blood-sugar levels above normal, indicating a possibility of diabetes, said Janice Schieferly, a health clerk at the school. They were to be retested Thursday to verify the results and will be referred for treatment, if necessary, she said.

The students were very interested in the study and the procedure for detecting diabetes, she said.

“They learned a lot about blood-sugar levels,” she said. “They asked a lot of questions.”

Diabetes is a disease caused by failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin to break down sugars in the bloodstream. Adverse side effects of the disease, which develops in Latinos at significantly higher rates than other segments of the population, include kidney and heart problems, blindness and early death.

Health officials usually expect to find one out of every 1,000 students at a given school who has developed diabetes, officials said.