Home
- Eating Well (or at Least Not terribly) at Fast Food Resturants
You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
See if you qualify for our free healthcare professional magazines. Click here to start your application for Pre-Diabetes Health, Diabetes Health Pharmacist and Diabetes Health Professional.
Latest Type 1 Issues Articles
Popular Type 1 Issues Articles
Highly Recommended Type 1 Issues Articles
Email to a Friend
Send a link to this page to your friends and colleagues.
Comparing Type 1 Rates in Finland and Lithuania—Is Type 1 Diabetes an Affliction of Richer Countries?
Researchers have long suspected a link between enterovirus infections and the development of type 1 diabetes. In a report published in the December 1999 issue of Diabetes Care, a team of Finnish and Lithuanian scientists has uncovered more evidence to support this.
Finland has the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes in the world, with over 40 out of 100,000 under-15 children diagnosed annually. Yet nearby Lithuania, a much poorer country, has a significantly lower rate, with only 7 out of 100,000 children diagnosed. Why the discrepancy? Led by Heikki Hyoty, MD, PhD, at the University of Tampere, Finland, the scientists compared enterovirus and islet cell antibody* levels between 1,049 Lithuanian children and 3,651 Finnish children. Enteroviruses are very common and usually produce mild, flu-like symptoms in the upper respiratory tract. They are transmitted via a fecal-oral route.
When tested, the Lithuanian children had much higher enterovirus antibody levels than the Finnish children, suggesting that these infections were more common in Lithuania. Ironically, the low rate of enterovirus infections in Finland means that Finnish women have lower levels of protective enterovirus antibodies to pass on to their children, thus leaving them more vulnerable to developing type 1 diabetes.
* Islet cell antibodies: The presence of these antibodies is one of the earliest indications that a person is undergoing the immune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells and will probably get clinical type 1 diabetes.
Categories: Diabetes, International, Type 1 Issues, Type 1 Issues
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
-
Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
Comments
Add your comments about this article below. You can add comments as a registered user or anonymously. If you choose to post anonymously your comments will be sent to our moderator for approval before they appear on this page. If you choose to post as a registered user your comments will appear instantly.
When voicing your views via the comment feature, please respect the Diabetes Health community by refraining from comments that could be considered offensive to other people. Diabetes Health reserves the right to remove comments when necessary to maintain the cordial voice of the diabetes community.
For your privacy and protection, we ask that you do not include personal details such as address or telephone number in any comments posted.
Don't have your Diabetes Health Username? Register now and add your comments to all our content.
Register...
Register your Diabetes Health Username here.
Have Your Say...