Living With Juvenile Diabetes

Archive for the ‘Risk factors and Diagnosis’ Category

It is estimated that there are nearly 1 million type 1 diabetics in the US with 30,000 new diagnoses each year. Although this number is much lower than for type 2 diabetes, the numbers for both are rising.

Being diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic can happen at any age, but is usually between infancy and adolescence. Both girls and boys have a fairly equal vulnerability.

Some risk factors for childhood diabetes include:

• Being ill in early infancy, especially having jaundice or a respiratory infection just after birth.
• Early foods. Some studies have reported an increased risk for infants exposed to cows milk at an early age (as opposed to breast milk). Other studies have shown that the incidence of childhood diabetes could be related to early exposure to cereal. While the thought is that the children most vulnerable to this are ones with an impaired immune response to proteins. This is probably one additional reason for breast feeding, as breast milk contains factors that help regulate this response and prevent diabetes.
• Heredity. Having a parent or siblings with type 1 diabetes slightly increases the chances that the child will be afflicted by it.
• Member of a high-risk ethnic group (African American, Hispanic, Asian, or American Indian).
• Age of the mother. Having an older mother increases the risk of diabetes as well as other illnesses and diseases.
• Baby weighed more than 9 pounds at birth.
• Mothers who had gestational diabetes.
• Mothers who have had preeclampsia during pregnancy. There is a risk that the baby is not getting enough blood flow which can cause low birth weight, premature birth, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, hearing & vision problems, as well as diabetes.
• Obesity in the child. Can be a risk factor for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as it causes an increase in insulin secretion.

If the child has experienced one or more of these risk factors and you notice additional signs or symptoms of diabetes, you should consider having them checked by their pediatrician.