Nursery World - Child Health: Diabetes

With diabetes on the rise among children, carers need to be alert to danger signals, says Karen Sullivan.

The number of young children with early-onset diabetes (type 1 diabetes, or diabetes mellitus) has soared in the past 20 years. A 2007 study found that cases of type 1 diabetes in under-fives increased fivefold between 1985 and 2004, with one in 1,000 now affected by the disease. The figures suggest more than 3,000 pre-school children are affected, compared with 600 just 20 years ago.

The increase among under-fives was accompanied by a doubling of cases among children under 15 over the same period. It has mystified doctors, who think it has happened too fast to be caused by genetic factors. It has also made it important for carers to understand the disease and what to do.

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