Common disease on the rise More and more children are suffering from type 1 diabetes

More and more children in Germany are suffering from type 1 diabetes

In Germany, more and more children are affected by type 1 diabetes. The metabolic disease can have dramatic health consequences. Research results of recent years, however, give reason to hope that the disease can be prevented in infancy and early childhood.

More and more children are suffering from type 1 diabetes

The number of people suffering from diabetes is increasing. Also more and more children are affected. And not only of type 2, the more common form of diabetes, but also of type 1. The autoimmune disease, in which the body produces little or no insulin, can have dramatic health consequences. But studies give reason to hope that the disease can be prevented in infancy and early childhood. Health experts point out this on World Diabetes Day on Tuesday (14 November).

More and more children in Germany are suffering from type 1 diabetes. But there is now reason to hope that the disease can be prevented in infancy and early childhood. (Image: rkris / fotolia.com)

Widespread disease among young people on the rise

The widespread disease diabetes has been on the rise for a long time, even among young people.

Type 2 is the most common form, often caused or promoted by unhealthy diet, overweight or obesity and lack of exercise.

This is different with type 1: "The causes of type 1 diabetes are a faulty reaction of the immune system to the cells in the pancreas that produce the body's own insulin. The immune system is beginning to destroy these cells, "explains a statement on the Global Platform on the Prevention of Autoimmune Diabetes (GPPAD).

The disease often goes unrecognized for many years until it suddenly manifests itself in often life-threatening symptoms.

Patients have to give insulin to their body for life. Possible long-term consequences include eye and kidney damage as well as problems with the heart and blood vessels.

However, when children with type 1 diabetes risk are detected early, "complications and possible outbreaks of the disease can be prevented," it says at GPPAD.

The most common metabolic disease in childhood

According to a report from the Institute for Diabetes Research at the Helmholtz Center Munich, type 1 diabetes is the most common metabolic disease in childhood and adolescence.

In Germany, between 21,000 and 24,000 children and adolescents are affected according to the experts. The rate of new cases has increased significantly in recent years, currently at three to five percent per annum.

Type 1 diabetes develops gradually: before the first symptoms appear, the child's immune system attacks the body's own structures.

Disease can possibly be prevented

However, research results in recent years give reason to hope that this autoimmune reaction and thus the disease of type 1 diabetes can be prevented in infants and toddlers.

As part of the Freder1k study, the Munich researchers have recently begun offering a screening test for infants up to the age of four months.

The determination of type 1 diabetes risk is carried out on the basis of fewer drops of blood.

Early detection and prevention measures

"With the launch of Freder1k, we continue to drive forward the prevention of type 1 diabetes. This is the first time we have the opportunity to train the immune system at an early stage so that the malfunctioning immune response can be avoided, "explained study leader Prof. Dr. med. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler.

"We want to achieve this with the administration of insulin powder via the oral mucosa and thus possibly prevent type 1 diabetes in the long term," says the director of the Institute for Diabetes Research.

"Early detection and possible future prevention of diabetes mellitus may have the same health-sustaining value in the future as the proven concept of vaccination against serious infectious diseases today," said Drs. Martin Lang, chairman of the Bavarian professional association for pediatricians. (Ad)