Diabetes Health in the News Podcast: Link Found Between Type 1 Diabetes & Epilepsy

A new study suggests that people with type 1 diabetes could be three times more likely to develop epilepsy than people without diabetes. This risk was even higher for children – kids under the age of six with type 1 diabetes were found to be six times more likely to develop epilepsy. Even more alarming, children with type 1 diabetes who had been hospitalized due to severe hypoglycemia were 16.5 times more likely to develop the seizure disorder.

This study does not show a cause and effect relationship, but it does indicate that parents need to advocate to get the most contemporary type 1 diabetes management tools for their children. These include the use of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring, which are not always covered by insurance.

These findings were published in Diabetologia on March 31, 2016.