Cases of diabetes in children and adolescents have increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
The coronavirus may well increase the risk of the emergence of diabetes in children. According to an American study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children and adolescents infected with Covid-19 are 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes more than 30 days following infection, compared to those who did not catch the virus.
This study, which concerns 2 million children and adolescents, shows that the links between the two diseases are “probably complex”. They would be linked because the coronavirus attacks the cells of the pancreas, which produces insulin in the body. “Covid-19 infection might lead to type 1 or type 2 diabetes through complex and different mechanisms,” the scientists said.
Increase in cases
Since the start of the pandemic, cases of type 1 diabetes in children have notably increased. An American study published in January 2022 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics survey of hospital admissions for patients under 19 in San Diego, California, reports a 57% increase in children admitted with type 1 diabetes from March 19, 2020 to March 18, 2021.
This increase has also been noted by German scientists, in a study published on the American Diabetes Association website. It shows that more than 5,000 new cases of this disease in young patients were diagnosed in Germany between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. According to the German researchers, “common respiratory infections in early childhood turn out to be a risk factor for the development of type 1 diabetes”.
