The number of children under the age of five with type 1 diabetes has risen sharply in recent years, a charity said on Tuesday, pointing out that the covid-19 pandemic could be the explanation.
According to a new report from the Child Diabetes Fund, 460 children were receiving treatment for this type of diabetes in 2022, an increase of 62% compared to 2018 (283 children).
Almost a third of these children need intensive care when they are sick, notes the NGO in a press release.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body does not produce insulin, while type 2 diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce enough insulin.
“It is frightening to see that type 1 diabetes is affecting children at younger and younger ages. We need to think about how to deal with it, both in terms of research and care,” said researcher Ake Lernmark in a report published by the charity.
Viral diseases often precede type 1 diabetes, notes the organization, which emphasizes that this increase in cases in Sweden coincides with the covid-19 pandemic.
Young children who have contracted the virus are more likely to develop this type of diabetes if the mother had never had covid before the child’s birth.
If the mother had been infected before or if she was vaccinated, the risk of the child developing this disease is lower.
“In some children, covid-19 probably triggered the development of a first antibody,” Mr. Lernmark emphasized in the report.
Even before the pandemic, the number of cases of type 1 diabetes was increasing, and the slow progression seen in the decades before the pandemic is believed to be linked to other cold viruses.
The link between diabetes cases and covid-19 is expected to fade as the population achieves immunity.
