The CDC investigated 2.5 million children and adolescents under the age of 18 who were confirmed to have COVID-19 in the United States from March 1, 2020 to June 28, 2021, and compared it with adolescents who did not have COVID-19 or had other respiratory infections.
As a result, it was found that children who will recover from COVID-19 have a 2.5 times higher risk of being newly diagnosed with diabetes after 30 days of confirmation than children who have not contracted COVID-19 or have other respiratory infections.
The possibility that COVID-19 is related to an increase in the risk of diabetes has been revealed in adults earlier. Two studies published in June last year showed that coronavirus can cause type 1 diabetes by infecting pancreatic beta cells and reducing insulin secretion.
Type 1 diabetes does not produce insulin, so insulin must be supplied to the body every day by insulin injection or pump, and type 2 diabetes refers to insulin being secreted, but cells do not respond properly to insulin due to insulin resistance.
The CDC said the analysis of children and adolescents includes both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The results of these studies are raising concerns among parents as the number of confirmed children is rapidly increasing due to the spread of the omicron mutation.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Association of Pediatrics Hospitals, the number of children who were confirmed with COVID-19 last week in the United States was 580,000, nearly three times higher than two weeks ago. CDC and pediatric diabetes experts recommend keeping three things in mind regarding this study.
The first is that not all people get diabetes just because they have COVID-19. Dr. Sanjoy Dutta, vice chairman of the Pediatric Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a non-profit organization that studies type 1 diabetes, said the study only shows a link between COVID-19 and diabetes, but does not reveal how the coronavirus causes diabetes or increases real child diabetes. He said, "There is no mechanism to suggest that COVID-19 causes diabetes or how it causes diabetes," and added, "We will not immediately ring an emergency bell just because COVID-19 increases type 1 diabetes."
The second is that COVID-19 vaccination is important. Currently, in the United States, people aged 5 or older can get the Pfizer vaccine, and those aged 12 or older and those aged 5 to 11 can get an additional Pfizer vaccine (booster shot). Pediatricians say the stability of vaccination has been proven to be much greater than the uncertainty that COVID-19 can cause complications in children, and recommend that all eligible children be vaccinated.
The third is to pay attention to diabetes warning signals if a child gets COVID-19. The CDC recommended that parents, pediatricians, and caregivers should pay attention to these symptoms, saying diabetes symptoms include thirst and hunger, frequent urine, weight loss of unknown causes, blurred vision, and fatigue.
Dr. Duta said, "We need to see if children have unusual behavioral patterns," adding, "If diabetes diagnosis is delayed, serious complications such as diabetic ketosis may occur, so if you have abnormal symptoms, you should consult a doctor immediately."
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)