Canadian teens and young adults living with diabetes face double the risk of hospitalizations and emergency room visits compared with younger children with the condition, say doctors suggesting changes to how care is organized for affected families. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas is unable to produce insulin, a hormone that allows the body to use glucose, a sugar, in food for energy. The estimated 300,000 Canadians with the chronic condition need to take insulin injections every day or use an insulin pump to survive.
People with Type 1 diabetes also need regular clinical checks since a loss of control over blood glucose can lead to serious eye and kidney complications, nerve damage that requires amputations, and even death. In Tuesday's issue of the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology , Dr. Meranda Nakhla, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital, and her team used Quebec health administrative data to estimate the risk of gaps in regular diabetes care for complications in children under 10, and adults up to age 23.
"With adolescents and young adults, [the complication] tends to be more related to an insulin omission and maybe just feeling burnt out from having diabetes and just not wanting to deal with it," Nakhla said. "They may stop taking insulin and a day later end up in the emergency room with diabetic ketoacidosis." Dr.
Meranda Nakhla wonders if clinics should deal with the mental-health issues first before tackling managing diabetes i.
