Type 1 diabetes associated complications partly due to family related characteristics

Sweden: A new study published in Diabetes Care found that the increased risk of melancholy, anxiety and stress-related illnesses in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes along with shared family characteristics is the prime.

One of the most common chronic illness in children is type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes increases the likelihood of mental health issues in kids and teenagers. In order to reduce any negative impacts on diabetes management, current diabetes recommendations urge screening for mental health issues in pediatric diabetes treatment. This is because it is critical that the affected children and adolescents receive prompt and effective diagnoses, along with appropriate therapies and psychological support. As a result, Shengxin Liu and colleagues carried out this population-based cohort research to calculate the relationship and family coaggregation of type 1 diabetes with juvenile onset and diseases associated with stress, anxiety, and depression.

The data used in this population-based cohort research came from Swedish national registries. A total of 3.5 million people who were born in Sweden between 1973 and 2007 were connected to their parents, full and half siblings, and cousins. To calculate the relationship between type 1 diabetes and problems linked to stress, anxiety, and depression, Cox models were utilized.

The key findings of this study were as follows:

1. The risk of all outcomes, including any psychiatric diagnosis or specific diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders, as well as the use of antidepressants or anxiolytics, was found to be higher in people with childhood-onset type 1 diabetes (n = 20,055) compared to people without the condition.

2. Overall, family members of people with type 1 diabetes were at increased risk of acquiring these outcomes, with parents and full siblings having the highest risks.

3. The magnitudes of the risk estimations also appeared to be inversely correlated with the degree of familial relatedness.

In conclusion, these findings underline the need for psychological consultation for diabetic children and their families. To better comprehend the causes of these psychological illnesses in type 1 diabetes, quantitative and molecular genetic research are necessary.

Reference: 

Liu, S., Leone, M., Ludvigsson, J. F., Lichtenstein, P., D'Onofrio, B., Svensson, A.-M., Gudbjörnsdottir, S., Bergen, S. E., Larsson, H., Kuja-Halkola, R., & Butwicka, A. (2022). Association and Familial Coaggregation of Childhood-Onset Type 1 Diabetes With Depression, Anxiety, and Stress-Related Disorders: A Population-Based Cohort Study. In Diabetes Care (Vol. 45, Issue 9, pp. 1987–1993). American Diabetes Association. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc21-1347