More Auckland children developing type 2 diabetes

The findings are based on 21 years of patient records from Starship.

Study lead, Dr Craig Jefferies, says the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing slowly and steadily, by between 3 and 5 percent a year.

He says it's linked to lifestyle factors.

But he says weight isn't the whole picture because the differences in weight problems between ethnic groups are smaller than the differences in rates of the disease.