2023-08-01 16:41:00
According to an analysis of 17 studies on the subject, published in the specialist journal Jama Network Open and to which the Dutch-language daily refers, the number of new cases of type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes, has increased by 14% in 2020 compared to the previous year in several Western countries. In 2021, this increase was 27% compared to 2019, again according to this study bringing together figures from the United States, Australia and Europe. If Belgium is not included, it is obviously not spared by the phenomenon, as shown by the data from the Inami. Which are confirmed by Sciensano who observes a “significant increase” in the number of cases of type 1 diabetes.
A record number of Belgians with diabetes
Environmental factors involved
“We are indeed seeing that the incidence of type 1 diabetes is increasing in children and adolescents, and this by 3% for years, even before the pandemic, tells us for her part Dr. Anissa Messaaoui, pediatric endocrinologist at the Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital (Huderf). One explanation put forward is the increasing exposure to certain environmental factors. Numerous studies also show that cases of type 1 diabetes can be triggered by a viral infection, but we do not currently have enough perspective to confirm this in the case of Covid”.
While waiting for more studies to establish – or not – the link with Covid, in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which had examined the health insurance records of more than 2.5 million people. American children, found that children and adolescents who had been infected with the coronavirus were 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes than those who had not contracted the virus.
As previously specified by the pediatric endocrinologist from Huderf, the underlying causes of this increase remain unknown to this day. The establishment of the diagnosis in children during the health crisis could be one of the elements of explanation.
The Covid: trigger or accelerator?
If according to some scientists, the coronavirus probably does not cause diabetes as such, the Covid-19 could on the other hand prove to be a trigger or an accelerator in people likely to develop the disease, because of their genetics (especially for type 1) or their way of life (for type 2).
In the case of type 1 diabetes, scientists believe that, in genetically predisposed people, “the coronavirus could signal the immune system to attack the cells of the pancreas which produce insulin, as can other infections common respiratory problems in early childhood”.
However, the medical profession wants to be reassuring for parents: it is in no way a question of fearing that, because it has been infected with Covid, a child is at risk of developing type 1 diabetes.
Increasingly premature diabetes
Moreover, this increase since the health crisis could also be explained by indirect causes. Sanitary measures, such as confinement, for example, could have created favorable conditions for the emergence of the disease.
Nevertheless, if the increase in the number of diabetic children has been real and regular since well before the Covid, the fact that the disease appears at an increasingly early age, and particularly in children under 5 , can most certainly be cause for concern.
“Patients with diabetes are not badly off in Belgium. But there are still negative points”
Diabetes in numbers
In Belgium, the proportion of diabetic patients reached 6.8% of the population in 2021, according to the Agence InterMutualiste (AIM), which collects data from all mutual funds. At the start of the analyses, in 2009, this proportion was still 5.1%. In total, the AIM lists 770,000 diabetic patients, ie a third more than ten years ago.
The increase, noticeable in all age groups, is particularly pronounced among seniors. 18% of people aged 65 to 74 have some form of diabetes. In general, the disease affects men more often than women. There is also inequality in socio-economic terms. The number of diagnoses per 100 low-income Belgians is almost double that of their higher-income compatriots.
Regional differences should also be noted. In Brussels and Wallonia, more than 21% of people in this older age group suffer from diabetes, while in Flanders the figure is only 15.8%.
Experts suggest several factors to explain the increase in the number of diagnoses. The aging of the population plays a role, as does our way of life. An unhealthy diet and a lack of physical exercise promote certain forms of diabetes.
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