Letter to the Editor RE: “PREVALENCE OF DIAGNOSED AND UNDIAGNOSED TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS AMONG US ADOLESCENTS: RESULTS FROM THE CONTINUOUS NHANES, 1999–2010”

We read with great interest the article by Demmer et al. (1) recently published in the Journal. We agree that national sur-veillance efforts for diabetes among this age group are impor-tant to assess and monitor the burden of disease. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) allows us to monitor and track the nation’s health. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion (Atlanta, Georgia) rely on NHANES for our national es-timates of the burden of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes among adults in the United States (2, 3). Estimates from NHANES for prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed di-abetes among youth have not been included as part of the Na-tional Diabetes Surveillance System because of concerns with the low absolute number of cases precluding compari-sons by demographic groups