Risk of diabetes in children increases

Researchers see evidence of a connection between corona infection in children and the occurrence of type 1 diabetes. This is shown by data from 1.1 million children between the ages of two and twelve with statutory health insurance, which researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the TU Dresden evaluated, as the TU announced on Tuesday.

The incidence of type 1 diabetes in children increased by 50 percent in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2018 to 2019. In addition, in the two pandemic years 2020 to 2021, diabetes was more common among children diagnosed with Covid 19. After a corona infection, the children had a 57 percent higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes than children without an infection.

The virus could either promote the development of the autoimmunity underlying type 1 diabetes or strengthen an already existing autoimmunity.

Ezio Bonifaceco-author of the study from the Technical University of Dresden

The number of new cases of diabetes increased mainly in the quarter in which the children suffered a corona infection, but also in the quarters that followed. According to the researchers, the results indicate a direct connection between a Sars-CoV-2 infection and type 1 diabetes.

More diabetic children in pandemic

It was already known that during the Covid 19 pandemic the number of diabetic children in Germany rose sharply. The reasons for this are not yet clear. Studies have so far not differentiated between children with and without corona infection.

The now evaluated data set of the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians provides information on whether children suffering from type 1 diabetes previously had corona. This allows conclusions to be drawn about a temporal connection.

“We are cautious about interpreting our results, but the virus could either promote the development of autoimmunity underlying type 1 diabetes, or enhance pre-existing autoimmunity and thus accelerate the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells,” explained Ezio Bonifacio, co-author of the Study by the Technical University of Dresden.

Further studies are needed to elucidate the exact mechanism behind the increased occurrence of type 1 diabetes in children in connection with Corona. (AFP)