German researchers see evidence of a connection between a corona infection and the occurrence of type 1 diabetes (“sugar”, note) in children. This is shown by data from 1.1 million children between the ages of two and twelve who are insured by statutory health insurance in Germany.
The incidence of type 1 diabetes in children increased by 50 percent in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2018 to 2019. In addition, in the two pandemic years 2020 to 2021, diabetes was more common among children diagnosed with Covid 19. After a corona infection, the children had a 57 percent higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes than children without an infection, researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and TU Dresden reported on TuesdayResearchers see a direct connectionThe number of new diabetes cases increased mainly in the quarter in which the children went through a corona infection, but also in the quarters that followed. According to the researchers, the results indicate a direct connection between an infection with the pathogen SARS-CoV-2 and type 1 diabetes, which usually begins in childhood or adolescence. The autoimmune disease is caused by an absolute failure of those cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. It was already known that the number of diabetic children in Germany also rose sharply during the Covid 19 pandemic. The reasons for this are not yet clear. Studies have so far not differentiated between children with and without a previous corona infection. The data set now evaluated by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians provides information on whether children suffering from type 1 diabetes previously had corona. According to the scientists, this allows conclusions to be drawn about a temporal connection. Does the virus promote the development of autoimmunity? “We are careful with the interpretation of our results, but the virus could either promote the development of autoimmunity underlying type 1 diabetes, or it could already do so strengthen existing autoimmunity and thus accelerate the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells,” explained Ezio Bonifacio, a co-author of the study from the Technical University of Dresden.To elucidate the exact mechanism behind the increased occurrence of type 1 diabetes in children in connection with Corona is, further studies are necessary, according to the researchers.
