Type 1 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents: risk factors

Abstract

Objective — to study the risk factors for the formation of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM 1) in children and adolescents.
 Materials and methods. Genealogical analysis was carried out in families of 70 children and adolescents with DM 1 of both genders, aged 8 to 18 years, who were examined in the Institute of Children and Adolescents Health Care of the NAMS of Ukraine. The comparison group consisted of pedigrees of 82 healthy peers, residents of Kharkiv and Kharkiv region. The collection of pedigrees was carried out by the generally accepted method. Statistical processing of the obtained data was carried out using the Student’s criterion in the Excel application package.
 Results and discussion. Based on genealogical analysis, the predominance of the following endogenous and exogenous factors in families of DM 1 patients was revealed when compared to the similar factors in families of healthy probands: stress before pregnancy and pathological course of childbirth in mothers; tobacco smoking in fathers; artificial feeding, stress, bad habits, surgical interventions, additional load in children. Among the different categories of relatives of DM 1 patients, endocrine diseases prevailed in mothers compared to fathers, in grandmothers in comparison with grandparents and aunts versus uncles. It was determined that 2.9 % of families of patients had hereditary burden for DM 1, 51.4 % of families for type 2 DM, and 4.3 % of families for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Relatives of probands with type 1 diabetes demonstrated prevalence of endocrine, cardiovascular, mental and oncological diseases and pathology of the digestive system compared to the frequency of these diseases in relatives of healthy peers.
 Conclusions. According to the results of the research, endogenous and exogenous risk factors, and family accumulation of multifactorial diseases (endocrine, cardiovascular, mental and oncological diseases and pathologies of the digestive system) in the pedigrees of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes have been established.