Kids with Type 1 Diabetes Increasingly Have Other Autoimmune Diseases

Celiac.com 10/20/2020 - Doctors diagnosing children for type 1 diabetes are increasingly finding other autoimmune conditions that can complicate the outlook for these patients. A team of researchers recently set out to study rates of comorbid autoimmune diseases, including celiac disease, and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) in children.

Rates of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) in children are on the rise, but it's unclear what relationship, if any, this might have with other coexistent autoimmune conditions, since diabetes onset is not well understood. 

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The team wanted to assess the incidence of T1D, and the rates of coexistent autoimmune illnesses, from the onset of diabetes mellitus in children over a nine year study period. In their retrospective study, the team calculated incidence rate for T1D as the total number of all newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 population in people between 0 and 18 years of age. 

The team studied 264 boys and 229 girls between 0 and 18 years old with newly diagnosed with T1D in one of the Polish centers from 2010–2018. They determined diagnoses for related autoimmune illnesses from initial data recorded when patients first received diagnosis for T1D.

The team found that the standardized incidence rate of T1D in children rose 170% over the 9-year study period, while the incidence rate ratio rose 4% per year. 

As rates of T1D have risen rapidly in all children of all ages in recent years, so, too have rates of the autoimmune diseases that frequently accompany these conditions. Having an additional autoimmunity disorder is a serious burden for patients with new-onset T1D. 

Stay tuned for more information on the challenges faced by children with more than one auto-immune disease.

Read more in Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020; 11: 476.

Reference:
Głowińska-Olszewska B, Szabłowski M, Panas P, et al. Increasing co-occurance of additional autoimmune disorders at diabetes type 1 onset among children and adolescents diagnosed in years 2010-2018—single-center study. Front Endocrinol. Published online August 6, 2020. doi:10.3389/fendo.2020.00476.

The research team included Barbara Głowińska-Olszewska, Maciej Szabłowski, Patrycja Panas, Karolina Żoła̧dek, Milena Jamiołkowska-Sztabkowska, Anna Justyna Milewska, Anna Kadłubiska, Agnieszka Polkowska, Włodzimierz Łuczyński, and Artur Bossowski. They are variously affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics, Endocrinology, Diabetology With Cardiology Division, Medical University of Bialystok, Białystok, Poland; the Department of Pediatrics, Rheumatology, Immunology and Metabolic Bone Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, Białystok, Poland; the Department of Statistics and Medical Informatics, Medical University of Bialystok, Białystok, Poland; and the Department of Medical Simulations, Medical University of Bialystok, Białystok, Poland.