Researchers from Queen's Universities in Belfast and the UK and Pecs University in Hungary analysed diabetes data from 20 diabetes centres in 17 European countries. They found 29,311 cases of type 1 diabetes had been recorded between 1989 and 2003 and that the number of children diagnosed with the disease was increasing by 4 per cent per year, with the most significant increase of 5 per cent per year seen in under-fives.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by insulin deficiency and has to be treated with insulin injections. The onset of the disease at an early age has been found to be associated with more severe symptoms, including fatigue, blurred vision and weight loss.
The study, Incidence trends for childhood type 1 diabetes in Europe during 1989-2003 and predicted new cases 2005-20: a multicentre prospective registration study, found 15,000 new cases of type 1 diabetes in children under 15 in Europe in 2005, a quarter of which were diagnosed in under-fives. It predicts there will be 24,400 new cases in 2020, with the number under-fives cases set to double.
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK, said, 'The evidence that children are developing type 1 diabetes at an increasingly younger age is worrying. Parents have the task of giving their children or babies insulin injections several times a day and their children will be at risk of short-term complications which may need hospital treatment.
'The longer the person has it, the higher the risk of heart disease, kidney failure and blindness.'
The report's authors concluded that the number of cases was increasing so quickly that they could not be caused by genetics alone, and that lifestyle factors, such as increased height and weight, could also play a part. The highest increases were found in Eastern Europe, where lifestyle habits are changing very rapidly.
