Pasifika children in Auckland have an 18 times greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes than their European peers, according to new research.
The research, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, canvassed 21 years of childhood diabetes cases at Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital - which covers the whole region.
The study's lead author, Starship paediatric endocrinologist Craig Jeffries, said the research had revealed that type 2 diabetes - barely recorded in children 20 years ago - was persistent and rising.
Dr Jeffries said the chance was greater for Pasifika children for a variety of reasons.
"We have this overwhelming obesity drive in New Zealand and a lot of other countries do, but you've still got to be a relatively specific ethnic group and within that you still have to have normally a strong family history of type-2 diabetes.
"In almost all the kids we see, they've got parents, or especially a mother who got type-2 diabetes on insulin in pregnancy. So it's almost like they're programmed metabolically ahead of time."
Craig Jeffries said, however, cases were still very rare.
Diabetes awareness sign in Rarotonga, Cook islands Photo: RNZI/Sally Round