As long as children get sick from coronavirus, they may develop diabetes! – Read the new studies

Children who got sick with Covid-19 have a significantly increased (by 72%) risk of developing type 1 diabetes, shows a new American scientific study. However, it is unclear to what extent the disease itself triggers the onset of childhood diabetes.

The researchers of the School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, led by Professor Pamela Davis, who made the relevant publication in the American Medical Journal “JAMA Network Open”analyzed data on approximately 571,000 patients up to 18 years of age in the US and 13 other countries who were diagnosed with Covid-19 or another respiratory infection during 2020-2021.

It found that in the six months following the coronavirus infection, 123 pediatric patients had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes for the first time (rate 0.043%), compared to 72 (rate 0.025%) among those who had experienced a respiratory infection other than Covid-19. This equates to a 72% increase in new diagnoses of childhood diabetes in Covid-19 patients. This was true for both the youngest children (0-9 years old) and the older ones (10-18 years old).

“Families at high risk for type 1 diabetes in their children should be especially alert for associated symptoms post-Covid, as should paediatricians, especially since the Omicron variant is spreading so rapidly in children. We may see a significant increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes in the coming months and years,” said Dr Davis.

THE type 1 diabetes considered an autoimmune condition. It mainly occurs when the immune system attacks the cells that produce the hormone insulin, preventing its production. It is a disease more common in children than type 2 diabetes that occurs mainly in adults over time, as their body becomes resistant (resistance) to insulin, and later their pancreas stops producing enough insulin, resulting in to increase their blood sugar.

Another recent study, led by Professor Graham Ogle of the School of Medicine University of Sydneywhich was published in the Diabetology-Endocrinology Journal “The Lancer Diabetes & Endocrinology”estimates that the number of people worldwide living with type 1 diabetes will double by 2040, from 8.4 million in 2021 (only 18% were under 18, while 64% were 20-59 and 19% over 60) to 13.5 to 17.4 million in 2040.

Remarkably, according to the researchers, although type 1 diabetes has traditionally been considered a childhood disease, in 2021 it is estimated that more adults (316,000) than children and adolescents (194,000) will be diagnosed with the disease, with an average age of diagnosis of 32 years. Deaths due to the disease worldwide in 2021 were estimated at 175,000.

The study estimates that the incidence of type 1 diabetes will increase in all countries in the coming decades, warning of significant negative impacts on societies and health systems. The ten countries with the highest prevalence of type 1 diabetes in the general population are, in order, the USA, India, Brazil, China, Germany, Britain, Russia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Spain.

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