A New Study Has Discovered A Link Between COVID-19 Infection And Type 1 Diabetes In Children
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, scientists around the globe have been working to understand exactly how the virus impacts long-term health– also known as “long COVID” or “post-COVID” symptoms.
According to the CDC, general symptoms might include fatigue and fever; meanwhile, people may also experience a wide range of respiratory, heart, neurological, and digestive symptoms.
Likewise, research about how children and adolescents are weathering the long COVID storm is still emerging.
But one new study conducted by Case Western Reserve University and the MetroHealth System has actually discovered a link between COVID-19 and type 1 diabetes in children.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) typically develops between childhood to young adulthood and represents only about five to ten percent of diabetes cases. T1D is also believed to be caused by an autoimmune reaction in which the body mistakenly attacks itself, according to the CDC.
“This reaction destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, called beta cells. This process can go on for months before any symptoms appear.”
And unfortunately, there is no known way to prevent the onset of T1D. Instead, those with the chronic disease will have to manage their T1D for the rest of their lives with support from various medical professionals.
About one hundred and eighty-seven thousand children and adolescents are currently living with T1D. However, according to the researchers’ study, some kids may be more susceptible to developing this type of diabetes following COVID-19 infection.
The study included the electronic health records of about 1.1 million children and adolescents who were infected by COVID-19 between March 2020 and December 2021.
Photographee.eu – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
After the researchers filtered the data, the pool was shrunk to just over five hundred and seventy thousand patients. And later, the team compared children who had been infected by COVID-19 against children who had contracted different types of lung infections to determine the prevalence of T1D.
Finally, the team also divided their data in half to reflect children versus adolescents. So, one group consisted of patients under nine years old, while the other contained patients between the ages of ten and eighteen.
The researchers ultimately found that within six months of being infected by COVID-19, one hundred and twenty-three patients were also diagnosed with T1D. This is compared to only seventy-two patients who were infected by other lung infections.
Now, the team has advocated for parents to be proactive– especially if their child is already at a higher risk of developing T1D and contracts COVID-19. Known risk factors for T1D include family history and age.
The researchers are also pushing for further research in this sector in order to determine if children who develop T1D following COVID-19 infection experience a different disease progression than those who were not infected with the virus.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in JAMA Network Open, visit the link here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
The Terrifying True Tale Of The Real Annabelle Doll And What Her Reign Of Terror Looked Like
More About:Science
Read This Next
