The number of small children falling ill with type 1 diabetes has increased sharply in recent years. The cause is unclear, but research suggests a possible link with Covid-19.
Between 2018 and 2022, the number of children who developed type 1 diabetes before the age of five increased by 62 per cent.
In 2018, 283 small children were treated for type 1 diabetes. Four years later, the figure was 460, according to new statistics from the Children's Diabetes Foundation.
What lies behind the dramatic increase is unknown. Forty to fifty years ago, it was very rare for children under six to develop type 1 diabetes, according to the Children's Diabetes Foundation.
The Coronavirus Pandemic
According to a study, Covid-19 could be part of the explanation.
We have looked at environmental factors and seen a temporal link between the increase in small children developing diabetes and the pandemic, says Karin Åkesson, a paediatrician and researcher on children with type 1 diabetes.
The study shows that small children who contract Covid-19 are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes if their mother did not have the infection before they were born. If the mother had had the infection, or was vaccinated, the risks decreased.
But much more research is needed before we can conclude that, says Åkesson.
Not Taken Seriously
When small children fall ill with diabetes, the progression is often dramatic, and nearly a third of the children in the study required intensive care. At the same time, many of them were not taken seriously at the health centre.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, and it is still not known why the immune system triggers the destruction of insulin production. After Finland, Sweden is the country in the world with the highest proportion of people falling ill with type 1 diabetes.
