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Growth of children before onset of diabetes

D E Price1, A C Burden

  • 1Leicester General Hospital, United Kingdom.

Diabetes Care
|October 1, 1992
PubMed

Insights

Children who develop diabetes are taller than their peers before diagnosis. This increased height, observed up to three years prior to diagnosis, suggests metabolic changes may precede clinical onset.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric endocrinology
  • Growth and development
  • Diabetes mellitus

Background:

  • Childhood diabetes onset is a significant health concern.
  • Understanding pre-diagnostic growth patterns can offer insights into disease etiology.
  • Early identification of risk factors is crucial for intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate height differences in children prior to diabetes diagnosis.
  • To compare the growth trajectories of diabetic children, their siblings, and control subjects.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of height data (Standard Deviation Scores - SDS) from routine examinations.
  • Inclusion of diabetic children identified from a diabetes register.
  • Age- and sex-matched control subjects and siblings were included for comparison.

Main Results:

  • Diabetic children exhibited significantly greater height (SDS) compared to controls 0-3 years before diagnosis (p<0.05 to p<0.001).
  • Height differences were not significant beyond 3 years pre-diagnosis.
  • Siblings of diabetic children did not show increased height compared to controls.

Conclusions:

  • Elevated height in children precedes clinical diagnosis of diabetes, suggesting metabolic alterations.
  • Growth-inducing metabolic changes may occur at least three years before diabetes onset.
  • This finding may aid in understanding the pathophysiology of childhood diabetes.
Abstract

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