Type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 link being investigated

A study is under way in the Southern Health Trust area to investigate possible links between Type 1 diabetes and COVID-19.

A consultant paediatrician said there has been an increase in the number of young people being diagnosed since the beginning of the pandemic.

Last year, the trust said there were 41 new cases, its highest yearly total on record. 

Dr Sarinda Millar specialises in Type 1 diabetes in children and young people.

"We are having more diagnoses, specially since the start of 2021 but more last year, as well," she said. "...in January we had nine new cases of Type 1 diabetes in children and young people in one week alone in our trust area," she said.

"In other years, we wouldn't even have had one every week. And regionally, we have all seen an increase in Type 1 diabetes which leads us to question is COVID-19 in some way related?"

Because of the increase in Type 1 diabetes over the past year, the Southern Trust is commissioning fresh research on the matter.

"It is quite a wide piece of research we are hoping to do," Dr Millar said. "As well as looking to see if these children have been exposed to Covid, looking at their antibody status, we also want to know what other implications COVID-19 has had. For example, have families delayed bringing their child to hospital? We have seen that children are presenting sicker."

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Source: BBC News, 8 March 2021