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Does control affect growth in diabetes mellitus?
1Department of Paediatrics, Sheffield Children's Hospital, University of Sheffield, UK.
Insights
Diabetic children diagnosed at a younger age experience less height loss. Early diagnosis age is a key factor in predicting growth, more so than time since diagnosis or HbA1 levels.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Diabetology
- Growth and Development
Background:
- Childhood diabetes can impact growth and development.
- Understanding factors influencing growth in diabetic children is crucial for management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze factors affecting height standard deviation score (SDS) changes in diabetic children.
- To determine the influence of age at diagnosis, time since diagnosis, and HbA1 levels on growth outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of growth data from 67 diabetic children.
- Assessment of height SDS changes over three years and from diagnosis.
- Multiple regression analysis to identify significant predictive factors.
Main Results:
- No significant correlation between factors and height SDS change over three years.
- Strong correlation between height SDS change from diagnosis, age at diagnosis, and time from diagnosis (p<0.001).
- Younger age at diagnosis correlated with less height SDS loss; age was more critical than time from diagnosis in younger children.
Conclusions:
- Early age at diagnosis is a significant protective factor against height SDS loss in diabetic children.
- Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1) levels did not correlate with short or long-term growth in this cohort.
- Pediatric growth in diabetic children is primarily influenced by age at diagnosis.
Abstract:
Factors affecting the growth of 67 diabetic children were analysed retrospectively. The effects of age, sex, three year average glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1) levels, time since diagnosis and age at diagnosis were assessed on the change in the child's height standard deviation score (SDS) over three years, as well as the change in height SDS from diagnosis. No correlation between these factors was noted over a three year period; however, there was a strong correlation (p less than 0.001) in the change in height SDS from diagnosis with the age of the child and time from diagnosis. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the younger the child at original diagnosis, the less the height SDS loss, and also that in younger children the age of the child and not the time from diagnosis was the more important variable in deciding the loss in height SDS. No correlation existed between HbA1 levels and either the short or long term growth of patients in this study.