Children and diabetes

​Today, the number of children and young people developing diabetes is five times greater than 50 years ago and the average age of onset is lower. In the HUS area, approximately 150 under 16-year-olds are affected by type 1 diabetes and a few young people by type 2 diabetes every year.

 

Treatment begins at the emergency clinic and continues for a few days on a pediatric ward. After the initial treatment period, outpatient care is sufficient. Children will need to be admitted to a hospital only when they start insulin pump therapy, if diabetes is poorly controlled for whatever reason and small children when they have an upset stomach.

 

Patients with diabetes will meet with their diabetes care team every three months. Appointments can be made with a diabetes nurse more frequently, if necessary. When a child is diagnosed with diabetes or when their treatment changes, diabetes nurses will visit the child's day care or school to advise the teachers and other personnel on diabetes and how to care for the diabetic child (glucose monitoring, using an insulin pump and insulin injections).

 

Initially, the treatment of diabetes in children and young people requires multiple daily insulin injections. However, most patients start using an insulin pump later on. An additional feature in insulin pumps is a dosage guide which suggests an appropriate mealtime insulin dose based on the current blood glucose level and the amount of carbohydrates in the meal they are about to eat. Continuous glucose monitoring where a sensor is inserted under the skin to measure glucose levels in tissue in real time contributes to the improved control of diabetes. Glucose levels in tissue fluid reflect blood glucose levels. The results are displayed on a small monitor providing the patients or their parents a chance to adjust high blood glucose levels over time. Accepting diabetes is essential for good diabetes control.