Anyone can be diagnosed with diabetes, including young children and even infants, although it is rare in infants. It is the most common chronic metabolic disease. A diagnosis of diabetes turns a young patient’s daily life upside down, and the whole family has to learn to manage the new situation.
Children with diabetes can nonetheless lead a completely normal life. To make this possible, it is important that therapy is carried out in the best possible way and that everyone around the child is well informed about the disease. Treatment in Switzerland meets all current standards in the care of patients with diabetes. Young patients receive age-appropriate education and psychological support. An individual treatment plan is drawn up together with the whole family.
Diabetes mellitus develops very quickly in children: symptoms can become noticeable within just a few days, while the risk of complications emerges within a few weeks. Parental vigilance, which allows the disease to be diagnosed at an early stage, is therefore crucial.
What is diabetes?
It is a group of diseases characterised by hyperglycaemia, that is, elevated blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia is caused by impaired action of insulin, which is produced by the pancreas.
A distinction is mainly made between type 1, type 2 and other, less common forms, but type 1 diabetes is the form most often diagnosed in children.
Why do children develop diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes
It can develop as a result of genetic predisposition and mutations of individual genes. Environmental factors, including certain viral or bacterial infections, are also highly significant. Vitamin D3 deficiency is also mentioned among the causes. It is important to note that in children the cause is a gene mutation, while the environmental factors mentioned can influence when the disease appears.
According to the latest data, the incidence of diabetes mellitus among children has risen sharply in recent years.
Type 2 diabetes
The situation differs with type 2 diabetes mellitus, where both genetic predisposition and environmental factors influence the development of the disease.
Environmental factors play an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents, as they do in adults. These include poor diet and low physical activity, which lead to obesity and excess weight.
Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus: what limitations does it bring for children and adolescents?
With type 1 diabetes mellitus, children and their parents learn intensively at clinics in Switzerland how to manage the disease. Regular blood sugar measurements and appropriate insulin administration become part of their daily life – this demands a high degree of discipline from the young patients and from their families too. Nutrition always plays an important role here. As long as insulin is given regularly and blood sugar stays under control, children with diabetes have no physical limitations. They can play and romp as usual and lead a normal life.
How does therapy work?
When diabetes mellitus is diagnosed in children, the first priority is to treat the acute symptoms. Once the young patients have stabilised after diagnosis, the treating clinics offer them and their parents diabetes education, covering both blood sugar measurement and the options for insulin administration. Regular check-ups and examinations needed to prevent secondary diseases are also discussed. These check-ups are determined individually according to the child’s age and the severity of the disease and agreed with the treating diabetologist and paediatrician.
Caring for a child with diabetes mellitus
It is important to raise awareness among children and adolescents and to share knowledge about this disease. Particular attention should be paid to topics related to the acute course of diabetes mellitus, so that the child knows about conditions such as hypoglycaemia or ketoacidosis.
It is worth talking to the child about possible complications of the disease and explaining why following the recommended limits protects their health. Diabetes can lead to kidney failure or blindness. Glucose control is important for children’s healthy physical and mental development and for improving young patients’ quality of life.
