15-year-old Ina Landmark is one of many children who have been diagnosed in Stavanger this year. – I think it’s awkward that I’ve got diabetes, but I realize that I have to think positively, and think that it won’t be a boring everyday life, says Ina Landmark. It was she in the family who first understood that she might have diabetes. She drank and drank, went to the bathroom a lot and lost five kilos in a few weeks. – I thought it was diabetes because the symptoms were similar to what I checked online. A little brother of a friend of mine had it, and he had the same symptoms as me. A private blood sugar test showed soaring values. So it went straight to the children’s ward at Stavanger University Hospital. Ina Landmark has to inject insulin daily. Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / news Can be triggered by another virus No one knows why someone gets type 1 diabetes. What is certain is that Norway is at the top of the world in the number of cases of this disease. What is also clear is that the disease can be triggered by another virus. In April, Ina Landmark had covid-19. – I was really bad with a fever of around 40. Mum hardly got in touch with me the first day. It may have played a role, considering that I have developed diabetes. In February this year, Norway reopened after two years of the corona pandemic. During the spring, many people fell ill with covid-19 and other viral diseases. Childcare worker Linn Graff Kolberg has a full-time job teaching children and parents how to deal with diabetes in everyday life. Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / news At the children’s ward at Stavanger University Hospital, they started talking about whether there could be a connection between covid-19 and the many children who came in. – So many people came. Previously, there could be a break between each time we had a child with the diagnosis, but now they came all the time, says nurse Linn Graff Kolberg. This summer they received 18 patients in eight weeks. So far this year, 52 children have entered. In the whole of last year there were 35. It was also a record year. – We have not really thought that there is a connection between type 1 diabetes and corona infections. But international studies show that it can be, says Jostein Andersen Førsvoll, senior physician at the children’s ward with diabetes as his main field. More children get diabetes There has been a steady increase in recent years in children getting the disease. The child diabetes register records the number of cases. 2020 was a record year with 484 cases, while last year there was a slight decrease. The figures for 2022 will not come until next year. A perfect level of blood sugar. Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / news Many hospitals register new cases continuously. At St. Olav’s hospital in Trondheim, 24 new patients were registered at the beginning of October. In the whole of last year, there were 22. At the University Hospital in Northern Norway, there have been 20 cases up to and including August this year. In 2021, there were 19, while there were 20 the year before and 11 cases in 2019. At Oslo University Hospital, there were 22 new cases at the beginning of October. There is no indication that they will receive more new diabetes patients this year than in the past three years, according to senior doctor Torhild Skrivarhaug. Drammen Hospital reports the same, while at Haugesund Hospital there were 19 new ones at the beginning of September and 28 in the whole of 2021. An American study (external link) shows that covid-19 increases the risk of type 1 diabetes among children and young people. A Norwegian study (external link) carried out by the Institute of Public Health shows the same. While a study made with contributions from many diabetes centers in the world (external link) concludes that there is no connection. Senior doctor Jostein Andersen Førsvoll and nurse Glenn Frode Vanglo get to know their patients well. In the first year, Ina Landmark and her mother Siri Landmark will go in for control and follow-up six times. Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / news – It will be exciting in the coming years. Is this year a bump that was perhaps due to the pandemic? Or will the incidence of diabetes in Europe continue to rise? Crisis meeting In total, Stavanger University Hospital now has over 250 children between the ages of 0 and 18 with type 1 diabetes who must be followed up. This summer there was a crisis meeting at the hospital. Capacity was full. It has been and is busy for diabetes nurse Anette Rafoss with all the diabetic children who are to be followed up at Stavanger University Hospital. Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / news – This summer has been considerably busier than it usually is. Some days I’ve wondered how I’m going to get the solitaire going, says manager of the diabetes outpatient clinic Anette Rafoss. She coordinates that the patients receive the follow-up they should have. It is a puzzle when new diabetes 1 patients must have six checks in the first year, and then four checks annually until they are 18 years old. – We saw that we did not have enough free consultation hours to take care of the patients properly. We were able to make some moves, but it will take some time to reach the goal, says senior physician Jostein Andersen Førsvoll. When Ina Landmark was admitted to the children’s ward, she was there for a week with her mother Siri Landmark. Both to get treatment, but not least to learn how to keep the disease in check for the rest of her life. – You might get a little scared. It wasn’t the diabetes itself that scared me, but what people would think of me. – Why? – Being young means a lot of bullying and backbiting. – How did it go? – It has gone well. Not many people knew about it. When I show up here, it’s a way to tell. – How is the shape now? – It is much better. Now I can do everything without getting tired.
ttn-69
A record number of children have developed diabetes 1 this year – may be related to the corona pandemic – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
