healthyD.com (11/11/2021)(In Chinese)
Types of Diabetes | An average of 7 children in Hong Kong are diagnosed with diabetes each month. Research: Fatty liver may be a complication of growth
Diabetes is a common chronic disease that can be divided into type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disease with no cure. The Children’s Diabetes Association states that children with type 1 diabetes must rely on daily diet control, fingerstick blood sugar testing and insulin injections to maintain their lives.
11-year-old Summer was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 3. Her father, Mr. Huang, recalled that Summer suddenly had a low fever and later noticed that she was often thirsty and had frequent urination. Her weight dropped sharply and he felt her coccyx was just skin and bones. He thought it was not right and took his daughter to see a doctor. She was eventually diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
It is understood that Summer’s blood sugar index was seriously over the limit at that time. Huang’s father said that Summer’s “fingerprint” index was over 30 degrees, while the normal level should be 5 to 7. Summer needed to be hospitalized. He also said that the school lacked support for children with diabetes. For example, his daughter wanted to eat candy to supplement her sugar intake because she felt her blood sugar was low, but was refused. The teacher even asked his daughter to eat in the toilet, believing that it would have a negative impact on her psychology.
The Children’s Diabetes Association said that there are about 700,000 people with diabetes in Hong Kong, with an average of seven children diagnosed with diabetes each month. If diabetes is not detected or not properly treated, diabetic patients are at a higher risk of developing serious or fatal complications, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, etc. These complications can lead to a decline in quality of life and increased medical and healthcare costs.
According to reports published in the Hong Kong Childhood Diabetes Register, the incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes has continued to rise over the past 20 years. The number of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has increased exponentially, with 198 children diagnosed between 1997 and 2007, and 391 between 2008 and 2017. The situation is worrying.
The association and Shangzhi Medical Group recently conducted a pilot study on the “prevalence of fatty liver in patients with type 1 diabetes”. The results showed that fatty liver has the potential to become a long-term complication of diabetic patients. The study used a non-invasive fiber scanning method to conduct fatty liver scans on adults and children and adolescents under the age of 18. The results found that the incidence of fatty liver and liver fibrosis index in adults were much higher than those in children and adolescents. The study suggested that fatty liver assessment should be included in the complication screening plan for diabetic patients.
Text：Fion