What is type 1 diabetes, Warning over young diabetics' health

About sharing Image source, Thinkstock A "worryingly high" number of children with type 1 diabetes have warning signs of long-term health complications, including blindness, a report says.

And charities say this leaves "great concern" for their future health - some patients show early markers of eye, heart and kidney disease. Data from England and Wales suggests more than 1, new cases were recorded in people under last year.

But overall blood sugar control in this group has improved, the study shows. Type 1 diabetes often appears in childhood.

It is caused by the immune system destroying cells in the pancreas, leaving patients unable to control their blood sugar. This is different to the far more common type 2 diabetes, which is largely due to an unhealthy lifestyle.

It found that type 2 diabetes is associated with a higher risk of mortality in hospitalised COVID patients than type 1 diabetes. The combination of an older age and high C-reactive protein CRP was also linked to a higher risk of death. Younger people under 70 years old with chronic kidney disease, a common long-term complication of diabetes, also had a higher likelihood of dying. BMI, however, was not linked to survival. The information has been used to create a simple model which can be used to predict which patients are at higher risk of death.

Media caption, Kyle O'Keefe, who has type-1 diabetes: "There are lots of things that can go wrong" Barbara Young, Diabetes UK chief executive, said there was evidence that children were experiencing problems with their eyesight or kidneys before they reached their 18th birthday.

She said: "This is tragic and we have great concerns for their future health if they are already showing signs of complications at such a young age.

Many young people with this form of diabetes live in deprived areas of England and What is type 1 diabetes. Related Topics.