Emergency admissions due to child diabetes 'shocking'

By Jane Kirby, PA

Monday, 8 February 2010

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More than 3,300 children are admitted to A&E each year for complications caused by diabetes, figures showed today.

There were 3,345 emergency admissions among under-18s in England for the 12 months to April 2009, the data, released by Diabetes UK, revealed.

The youngsters were admitted for diabetic ketoacidosis, which occurs when blood glucose levels are too high.

It causes vomiting, stomach pain, rapid breathing and can lead to coma and death unless emergency treatment is given.

Children accounted for around a quarter of all the 13,465 emergency admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis, the figures showed.

Meanwhile, the overall number of admissions for the condition has risen almost 9% since 2006.

All the youngsters admitted to A&E in the data had Type 1 diabetes, which usually develops in childhood.

The UK has the fourth highest incidence of Type 1 diabetes among under-15s in Europe.

The incidence is 25 new cases each year per 100,000 children in the UK, behind 28 in Norway, 41 in Sweden and 57 in Finland.

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "It's shocking to see such high numbers of children being rushed to A&E with this life-threatening complication.

"We know from our previous research that specialist diabetes staff report an increase in emergency hospital admissions whenever there are cuts in services.

"Children and their parents desperately need better access to paediatric specialist diabetes teams.

"The number of emergency admissions could be reduced significantly with investment in appropriate care, diabetes advice and practical self-management support."

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Comments

( Leave a comment )

Who Ate All the Pies?

freetochoose1 wrote:

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 08:36 am (UTC)

Is this any surprise when such a large number of our young (and adult) population sustain themselves with ever increasing quantities of refined, sugar-filled, highly processed foods and drinks.

Give the body a healthy nutrient and fibre rich, uncomplex, unrefined diet and it will bristle with health and energy.

You are what you eat...

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Who ate all the pies?

tufsoft wrote:

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 09:19 am (UTC)

freetochoose1: they are talking about type 1 diabetes which is an autoimmune condition and as far as anyone knows has nothing to do with diet.

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Re: Who ate all the pies?

starlingnl wrote:

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 10:21 am (UTC)

That's a novel one, I've got several friends with type 1 diabetes - one of them so severe that her heart probably won't make it past 45 - , and they all have to watch their diets. If you eat too much sugar or drink too much alcohol, your blood sugar goes up. When you have diabetes (type 1 or type 2), your body can't cope with all that sugar and you end up with a hyper. Those kids are likely to have type 1 (aka juvenile diabetes, controlled with insulin injections), since type 2 (controlled with tablets) is much more common in elderly people.

Please don't spread the myth that what you eat isn't important with type 1 diabetes. I'm wondering if parents who feed their kids too much sugary rubbish despite their diabetes actually believe in that myth.

Yes, type 1 isn't CAUSED by eating the wrong things (although apparently people who get it at a later age are often alcoholics), but eating the wrong things is a really bad idea when you have it.

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Re: Who ate all the pies?

tufsoft wrote:

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 10:45 am (UTC)

I am not spreading the myth that you can eat what you like if you have type 1 diabetes. Believe me, anyone who has type 1 diabetes will have had that drummed into them already, thank you. But type 1 diabetes is not caused by bad diet, as far as anyone knows, therefore pious comments about "it's all your fault because you ate too much sugar" and the like are rather painful for people who suffer that disease.

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Re: Who ate all the pies?

starlingnl wrote:

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 10:53 am (UTC)

In that case, fair dos. Although type 1 can be caused by alcoholism (not in kids, obviously!).

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Re: Who ate all the pies?

freetochoose1 wrote:

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 07:12 pm (UTC)

Yes, I respectfully understand that, apologies if my comment was misleading.

However, you may find this link to be of interest, in terms of what is medically 'known' about the condition,
especially the possible link to maternal diet.

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/diabetes-7.html

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